Reality is on the other side of the fence
by Belisse
Summary: Meeting new cultures and creatures is always a good thing, until they encounter the ones that don’t like new creatures arriving at their galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Reality is on the other side of the fence.**

**Genre: H/C, Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, AU… you name it.**

**Rating: PG-13**

**Summary: Meeting new cultures and creatures is always a good thing, until they encounter the ones that don't like new creatures arriving at their galaxy.**

**Warnings: Torture, violence, story out of normal chronology.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them, I only wish I did this is just for fun.**

**A/N: Previously Parents of the Wicked, I tried… I really tried. But apparently there's no way I can post this story as a finished fic and not a WIP. So, I'm choosing the WIP path once again. But this time I have a large outline of how the story is going to go and how is going to get there. There are some things that still elude me but I realized that I work better on fics when I post as a WIP. **

**Because this one is driving me CRAZY!!!**

**0-0-0-0-0-0-0**

**The Storm Arrives**

Colonel John Sheppard was angry.

Period.

Angry at the weather, at the planet and at the damned creatures that were lurking nearby, he was angry at his damned luck.

But the thing he was angry about the most was one scientist called Dr. Rodney McKay. John didn't know why he was angry, but he just was. It seemed that Rodney couldn't shut up if his life depended on it.

John knew something was not right but for one quick second he started to feel like he was losing his head.

For the first time in his life John felt like really choking McKay to death. The thought scared John, because he never acted or thought that way. Rodney was a walking sign for annoying behavior, but John always managed to let it go and just be calm.

Not today, his train of thoughts was interrupted by yet another question from McKay, "Are they gone?"

John didn't know whether to smack Rodney or just push him into the open. Of course he wouldn't do that either. But the creatures were near and it was not a moment for questions.

Suddenly John felt as if his will had been given to someone else and he was just a puppet. It was only for a moment, but he felt it anyways. It was as if something or someone was trying to move him.

John glanced at the creatures once more; they were walking right past them. If they managed to evade them, everything was fine and they could go home unscathed.

Suddenly, the creatures started to walk away, and John turned his glare from the creatures towards Rodney. "Rodney, I swear if you don't shut the hell up I will hurt you."

Rodney frowned, almost feigning innocence. "There's no need to get hostile."

"Shut up!" John hissed as his anger rose a bit further.

As the creatures disappeared, John found rather odd though he was happy enough about it, his blind and uncharacteristic anger remained firmly in place. He knew it wasn't normal for him to react in such harsh way.

But he was and maybe all he needed was a few days off, as far away from the babbling scientist as possible. Also, to be very far away from any hostile aliens such as the Wraith or the Genii.

The creatures seemed to be gone, which was good. They finally had the chance to return to the village and back to Atlantis. Rodney struggled up and moved closer to John's side. He was about to say something, when John cut him off, "If you ever do that again, I will hurt you!"

Rodney was about to defend himself, when John's eyes opened wide and he grabbed Rodney by the front of his shirt and pulled him back down. Rodney stared at John as if the Colonel had just gone completely insane, "What are you doing? I haven't done any…"

"Shut up!" John half whispered, trying to control himself.

The creatures had suddenly returned and John realized now that they were just waiting for them to come out in the open. Also, he didn't know which he found creepier, how the creatures looked or the horrible feeling that invaded him every time they loomed by.

"What are we going to do?"

John turned to glare at Rodney, who in turn showed his hands in defeat, knowing all too well it was time for him to shut his mouth, especially if their life depended on it.

Why was he acting like this? John wanted to hit Rodney so badly; so much, that it was taking a tremendous effort just to stay still. The creatures disappeared again and John heard the Stargate activating in the distance. It shut down and then there was nothing but silence. Next to him, John could hear Rodney say he felt hungry. That was it. John snapped right there and then. "Rodney, run!"

Rodney looked at John, frowning in utter confusion. "Why?"

"Because if you stay there one more second… I'm going to kill you!"

Rodney was up in an instant and stared at John. "What? Why?"

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for one second?" John stretched to his full length, directing a deadly glare in Rodney's direction.

Rodney's alerts jumped in action and feeling quite scared by now he started to back away from the Lt. Colonel in front of him. John slowly moved from his spot towards Rodney, who in turn, stared bewildered at Sheppard's actions. "Sheppard… what are you doing? This is not you!"

The Colonel didn't even bother to answer as he moved slowly towards Rodney. The scientist in turn, spun around 180° and sprinted away from him. Anticipating exactly that sort of reaction, John ran after Rodney, while shouting. "Rodney! Don't let me get you!"

That simple phrase scared the hell out of Rodney, because it showed plain madness from the Colonel's part.

The occasional slap on the head was in a way acceptable. But death threats were a whole other thing. Rodney slowed down, suddenly feeling extremely tired.

In a way, John knew what he was doing and went with it. But he also knew something wasn't right, the whole day hadn't been right. They should've walked away the moment when trouble started, but as always curiosity won them over.

Now he was running after Rodney as if he was hunting a Wraith. Somewhere in his subconscious, John heard the shooting and the screams. But at the moment, nothing matter, nothing other than grabbing Rodney by the throat and just stay there.

But before Rodney's brains could really think about their problem and come up with a solution, John violently tackled the scientist ending up in heap on the ground.

There, John straddled Rodney and hit him twice square in his face. Then he grabbed Rodney's collar and lifted him a little from the ground bringing his face closer. "Do you want to get us killed?!"

Rodney was in shock, not knowing what to make of John's actions. But then he saw something that made his blood run ice-cold. He looked at John desperately and begged him to stop.

But to John it seemed Rodney's words were only spoken because he wanted the fight to end before he broke something precious.

John didn't want to stop, he wanted to break something, and he was bubbling with an unknown anger that was begging for release.

Rodney desperately tried again, his eyes darting around wildly, "Get off of me Colonel! We need to get out of here!"

John didn't care anymore; his rage was inexplicably blinding him. He knew it wasn't him, but there was no way to control it. He heard Rodney gasp and stare at some point behind him.

"Sheppard, watch out!"

For the first time in the last half hour John listened to Rodney. He turned his head to look back, but as he turned something slammed into his face, and all faded into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**II. The Calm before the Storm**

**One day ago…**

Another day, another gate and another planet, it was a simple recon mission. The planet didn't look even remotely remarkable. There was something that looked like a gray beach to the gate's right and a forest clearing around the gate, creating a semi circle of trees, lots of trees.

The gate itself didn't look abandoned, but underused. The only thing on the clearing that was worth noting, were the large boulders that were scattered on the field. They had a pinkish tone, which is unusual for stones.

The team arrived and made their usual track around the gate, taking the necessary readings and making sure there weren't any immediate dangers around. Rodney took some energy readings, while the others scanned the area. This has been the routine for the last couple of months.

They walked along the north edge of the clearing. "I'm spotting some life signs around, there might be a village near by." Rodney informed the team.

"Good, hopefully is not that far away." John said as he walked towards the center of the clearing.

"Why didn't we take a Jumper? I hate these long walks searching for villages that have nothing to offer us; other than food."

"Because we're not taking a Jumper out for a simple reckon mission. Is like taking out your car to drive to the corner." John replied, and then continued; "Besides you could use the extra exercise."

"I exercise everyday Colonel." Rodney said offended.

"Yeah, and I'm an underwear model."

Rodney stopped walking and frowned, "I'm going to have that image in my head all day."

"Don't get too excited, and keep walking." John replied sharply.

Ronon looked at Teyla; Teyla just rolled her eyes while hiding a smile.

John ordered the team not to move too far away; as he didn't want to give future trading partners the wrong impression.

And so they moved on, their traditional morning banter growing in force as they progressed, ending in John and Rodney having a snark fest. Teyla would smile in amusement while Ronon would remain quiet. Joining in the banter once in a while when he had something he thought was useful to say which was usually something meant for Rodney. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just another day on a yet another simple recon mission.

-0-0-0-0-0-

As the team continued checking out their surroundings, they didn't notice the person who was hiding in a nearby tree. She took out a large weapon from behind her, a weapon that was remarkably compact enough to carry around. The weapon was black, etched with silver symbols. Very carefully and quietly, she prepared the gun and took aim. The group was relatively close together; it was decision time, the leader first.

Without a second thought she fired the gun. The weapon didn't make a sound. Just a small white semi-transparent ball popped out of its end. Traveling at an incredible speed, the ball opened into a mechanism, which transformed it into a small clamp. The next second the clamp embedded itself into the leader's neck. The man stopped moving instantly and instead went down like a rock.

The rest of the group immediately spread out, scouting the area. Two of them, a man and a woman split up to protect the one who was down and one that looked nothing like a warrior. That one kneeled down besides the leader, making him the next target. She fired her weapon again and the man besides the leader was quickly on his back.

Next in line was the woman. She was a little tricky at first, but with well-timed patience she was down like the other two. The last one, which seemed to be the most difficult one of them all, took more time than the others. That one had taken out his weapon and was searching the nearby area. The woman fired her gun, but missed as the man shielded himself behind one of the boulders near the gate. The woman cursed, he had spotted her sitting on the tree.

He fired his gun a couple of times, his shots impacting the branches around her. That only fueled her to calculate patiently when to make the next shot. She waited for the best moment, waited for the man to move in closer towards her. His face was riddled with a grin, as if amused by her attack. She wasn't pleased, so, she carefully took aim and fired her gun.

It hit target and the man went down with a soft thud. Pleased with herself, she climbed down from the tree and made her way toward her new prisoners.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When John felt something hit his neck, he felt scared as his body went completely numb. He landed on the ground before he could even grasp what was going on. Oddly enough the Colonel was aware of his surroundings; he could hear and move his eyes. But that was all he could do.

Rodney hovered over him, "Colonel Sheppard, can you hear me?"

John tried to move his eyes signaling a yes but the scientist was totally oblivious to his attempt. Rodney located the object in John's neck, which looked like a white choker. He moved his hand to take it off but as he pulled it, John's eyes started to roll up so Rodney gave up.

Before the scientist could say anything else, John saw something impact with Rodney's neck, causing him to fall backwards. John knew that Rodney was now just like him; which wasn't good, as they were now at the mercy of their attacker. He hoped that Ronon and Teyla were able to defend the team. John wanted to do something; he needed to do something. But there he was, completely useless.

John heard a faint shout and knew it was Teyla. Now the only one still okay was Ronon, but the runner was no longer in John's line of sight. He heard Ronon's gun go off a couple of times, but then he heard the distinct thud of a body hitting the ground followed by nothing but an eerie silence.

There wasn't a single sound for about ten minutes, when John suddenly heard soft footsteps coming his way. They were coming closer and closer until they were right next to him and stopped. It started moving again, stopped, moved again and once more coming into John's line of sight.

It was a woman, probably in her mid 20's. She was wearing long pants and a shirt with long sleeves that looked like it was made out of dark leather. The woman kneeled at Rodney's side and stayed quiet for a couple of seconds. Then she stood up and walked towards John. She kneeled next to him, giving John the opportunity to take a good look at her. Her hair fell around her shoulders, straight and blood red. Her features were a bit Asian, but really strong and yet almost graceful. Her expression was one of satisfaction.

She appeared to be inspecting him, the same way he was inspecting her. She said something in a strange language and pressed something on the choker in John's neck. A sudden wave of extreme dizziness took him as the ground beneath him vanished; he fell.

-0-0-0-0-0-

When John woke up, the thing in his neck had been removed. It took him a while just to open his eyes. Once he managed to sit up, he noticed that Teyla and Rodney were beginning to stir as well. Ronon was sitting not far from John staring out at something. John got up and walked towards Ronon, but there was no need to ask what he was looking at. It was the woman that had attacked them, who was now pacing back and forth right in front of them. John decided to walk towards the woman, but Ronon stopped him, "Don't."

John frowned while Ronon threw his fist into an invisible wall; some sort of shield that sparkled white when Ronon hit it.

John shifted uncomfortably, and glanced at the woman, "Hello... what's going on?"

The woman looked at them with an amused grin as she bit a fruit, that looked a lot like an apple but it was pink in color. Then, she walked towards where Ronon was sitting and she crouched right in front of him as she took another bite. She smiled at him, and Ronon reacted by hitting the shield again. She laughed at him and stood up.

The native walked towards a nearby tree where she started preparing a spot on the ground. That started to look like an improvised sleeping bag. The runner hissed while he clenched his fists; the woman turned and grinned, amused at his outburst.

John reached out with his hand and touched the shield. It felt like touching a wall. He looked at the woman again; she appeared to be getting ready to go to sleep. By now, she had removed her leather shirt and was wearing another black shirt underneath, but this one was made of normal looking fabric.

The woman glanced at John, she still didn't say anything, but then she turned and lied down on the ground.

John looked around, Rodney was sitting up and Teyla came walking towards him. John in turn, remembering that the woman had talked in a different language, tried again just to make sure, "Hello... can we talk?"

The woman, without getting up, turned around and stared straight at John, "You have to wait until my brother gets here. And it might be in a while, so you better get comfortable." Then she looked at Ronon, who was still looking as if he wanted to slap her, and smiled before turning away from them, ignoring them further.

Giving up, John sat on the ground next to Ronon and looked at Rodney and Teyla, "Are you guys ok?"

Teyla sat down, "I am fine."

Rodney was massaging the back of his neck absentmindedly, and John copied him. He noticed that he had two small areas where the skin was really irritated.

Evening seemed to fall on them, and the woman who, if she wasn't sleeping, was really good at ignoring people. She just lied there, for a very long time.

And wasn't that just great… another day, another gate, another planet and another crappy cell.


	3. Chapter 3

**III. There's no place like home**

_**Present day...**_

Pain... all around, ever present; his face, his neck, everything hurt. John tried to remember where he was, but there was nothing... until the proverbial light bulb flipped on and everything fell into place. He had been fighting with Rodney when something had hit him square in the face.

John moved while making an effort to open his eyes. He was lying on a flat surface, which looked suspiciously like a table. Right in the middle of a cell; a dark, humid and crappy cell no less. John took another good look around and spotted Rodney lying nearby on the floor. John quickly tried to sit up, but the room started spinning.

"McKay!" John called out hoping that Rodney was awaking too.

But Rodney didn't answer, not even a peep. John memories seemed to spark and there he wondered what the hell happened to him. The Colonel knew that he would never hit anyone on his team. Yes, there was a time when he felt like smashing his fist at Rodney's face after what happened in Doranda, but he never acted on it. He never even tried to do it; that was why now he felt so freaked out by his actions.

When he was finally able to sit, John touched his face. He hissed when he found a sore spot, and by the intensity of the pain John was pretty sure that he must have one serious bruise. The next step was standing up, but when his feet touched the floor, he almost lost his balance and had to hold the table to steady himself. Once his balance was somewhat under control, he walked towards the limp form of Rodney McKay. The Colonel kneeled down next to the scientist and checked for a pulse.

John sighed relieved as he found a strong pulse and normal breathing. He gently shook the man in an attempt to wake him up. "Rodney, wake up."

Rodney let out a soft moan after which his eyes snapped wide open. "Where are we?"

John looked from Rodney to the cell around them, "I don't know. Do you know what hit us?"

Rodney started to sit up, shedding some more light on his bruised face. Somehow John knew what was coming. "One of those creatures hit you..." - Rodney's eyes widened in a mix of shock and anger - "...while you were hitting me!"

John turned away from Rodney. "Yeah... about that ... sorry!"

Rodney rested his back against the wall "What the hell was wrong with you, Colonel?"

John glared at Rodney. "I don't know… but what the hell was wrong with _you_?"

Rodney frowned in confusion. "What?"

"You wouldn't shut up!"

"That's hardly a reason to become all beastly on me," Rodney retorted.

"You were giving our position away!" Sheppard hissed back.

"You could've broken my nose!" And as an added point Rodney gently touched his nose, making sure the Colonel hadn't in fact broken it.

"But I didn't."

"Still..."

"I get it, Rodney! I am sorry!"

They both fell silent for a couple of minutes, before John glanced away to the door. "I really don't know why I did it. Usually, I can keep myself in check and scream at you later."

Rodney replied with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, thank you Colonel. That's so nice to know."

"Actually, it felt like I was mad, like I couldn't control myself." He walked towards the door and touched it lightly. The metal felt soft against his hand. Next to the metal door was a small window. John took a quick glance outside, but all he could see was darkness and a faint blue light in the distance. He quickly backed away, however, as he noticed a shadow pass by.

John looked back at Rodney. "Do you know where we might be? I mean, are we still on the same planet?"

Slowly Rodney got up. "No, the last thing I remember was flying off."

John frowned. "What do you mean 'flying off'?"

Rodney shook his head. "I'm not sure."

John took another look outside before moving back towards the table he had been lying on. He stopped and glanced at Rodney. "Do you think Teyla and Ronon are alright? They disappeared with Ilu and Gregos when we went into the forest."

Rodney shook his head as he replied. "I know as much as you do."

John stayed silent as he moved toward the table. His original intention had been to sit down on it and try to sort out the mess they were currently in, but fate seemed to have other plans. A sickening feeling started to rise in his chest. His lungs felt as if a giant hand was pressing down on them, pushing all the air out at once. He managed to sit down, and gazed frantically at Rodney. "Something's wrong."

Rodney discarded his thinking and stood up, moving closer to his friend. "What is it?"

John's breathing became shallower. "I... can't..." -then his eyes snapped wide open and he fell flat on the table, gasping for air.

Rodney moved to John's side. "What's wrong? What do you feel?"

John gave another gasp his face was contorted with pain as he stared at Rodney wide-eyed. "I can't move."

At that very moment the door snapped open and two creatures walked in. This time Rodney got a good look. They were tall; maybe six and a half feet tall, their skin was brownish with hints of white around their arms.

They were clearly humanoid, they walked on two legs, had two arms one head with two eyes something that resembled a nose and a mouth. But other than that, nothing else was near human; instead it appeared that in the evolutionary road, these aliens mixed with more than one wild species. They move quickly and looked quite agile; their head was large with several shark like fins on top of it.

It looked that at some point they might have been distant relatives of the Asgard, but any relation was now non-existent.

Rodney managed to count six fingers on each hand. The aliens had a slender body, which they tried to cover with a long black tunic. If Rodney hadn't been scared by their appearance before, he was now. Rodney couldn't explain it, there was something in the creature's eyes that he felt it was tearing him apart. Rodney didn't know why, but back on the planet these aliens had looked quite different; not to be messed with, but not like this. Now they looked downright dangerous, enough so to make a Wraith run away in utter fear.

Since Rodney seemed to be in somewhat of a shock to actually see a creature like that, he didn't realize fast enough that they were walking towards him. It was only when he heard the Colonel's voice that he seemed to fall back into reality.

"Leave him alone!"

Rodney started to back away, wishing there was some way to escape from the creatures' grasp. That's when he felt it, his chest started to hurt. Rodney grabbed the front of his shirt, he felt as if his heart wanted to go fast and slow at the same time. He was staring at the floor trying to overcome the pain but then he was suddenly and unexpectedly thrown back, resulting in lights out.

From the table, John watched helplessly as the creatures knocked Rodney out. The scientist's limp body floated in the air, and one of the creatures grabbed him by the neck, turned around and walked out of the cell.

John felt a mixture of anger and panic rise in his chest, which left him without much to do. He was stuck to the table; he was having trouble breathing and now the remaining alien finally turned to look his way. What really stuck with John was their face. The eyes were white with dark slited pupils, which moved slowly as the alien inspected his prize. The eyes bored into John as if they wanted to take something from deep within him.

The creature just hovered above him, studying him. John started hearing noises around him, mostly it sounded like interference on a radio or TV. But the volume was ten times more loud than normal. While this happened the creature didn't even blinked as he stared at John.

John closed his eyes trying to convince his mind that it was all a dream, that what the alien was doing it wasn't true. But just as it started, it stopped and then suddenly the creature turned around and left.

Once the door was closed, John's body slowly returned to normal and the noises were gone. He tried to get his breathing in control first, and then he stood up as quickly as possible and walked towards the window. John's mind was racing, he could now see out of the window to the surroundings outside. Where there were a couple of creatures looming nearby. Some were looking at him, with what John thought it was interest, as it was difficult to read their expressions. John only hoped, prayed that these creatures weren't dissecting Rodney.

But never in his life, not even in his wildest or most horrifying nightmares could he have imagined what he heard next. A blood-curling scream filled the cell, a scream of pain. Rodney was screaming at the top of his lungs.

John pressed his face against the window, frantically looking around, hoping to see what was going on. The screaming went up a notch while John wondered how much higher the man could go before loosing his voice. There was no babbling, no shouts of protests, nothing; just screams

It was driving the Colonel insane; he couldn't just stay there as his friend was being tortured. John backed away as without warning the door suddenly opened, to reveal those same creatures again of which he didn't want them to get their hands on him. But before he could think of something to do in his defense, he was on his knees grasping his chest. The next thing he knew he was floating, going straight towards the alien at the door. Once within reach, the creature took John roughly by the neck and carried him out of the room.

John felt sick, feeling the hand tight around his throat. The skin was warm, too warm. The soldier looked around, trying to know where they were taking him. Then they walked into a big room, which looked suspiciously like a lab. Once inside they approached a couple of tables and the sight that greeted John made all the blood in his body go instantly cold. Rodney was lying on his stomach on one of the tables, stripped down and completely naked. There was something on his back but all John was able to see were the trails of blood running down from it.

John couldn't see anymore, as he was dropped face down on the table next to Rodney. There one of the creatures held him down; another stripped all his clothes off. John couldn't do anything; he was being kept completely immobile. But he did feel the cold metal thing the creatures placed on his back. It was heavy and went all the way from his neck down to his lower back.

The next thing that happened made John understand why Rodney had screamed so badly. The pain started on his lower back, it felt as if someone was shooting nails into his spine. The first hit, John muffled his scream, but as the stabbing crept up his back and the pain intensified, he could no longer control his voice.

He screamed.

He screamed at the world, at the nails in his back, at the damned creatures. He screamed until everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**IV: Encounters**

**One day ago…**

Hours had gone by, and still nothing.

Being inside the shielded dome was absolutely no fun, since it had started to get rather uncomfortable to sit on the grassy underground for longer than a few minutes. They had come to the point where they were alternating with two sitting and two standing guard, as their captor pretended to sleep. After some time the woman had woken up and had started a fire.

John was feeling tired and had taken a seat on the ground again, facing their captor in silence. He knew that Ronon was doing the same, just waiting. But as John stared at her he couldn't help but notice that she wasn't exactly getting much warmth from the fire.

She threw a bunch of leaves into the fire, and closed her eyes. Her lips moved but no sound emerged. It appeared she was saying some sort of prayer. Next she took a really small pouch out of her bag and poured some white powder over the fire, which turned the fire blue. She moved her hand into the fire and circled the flames as if taking in the fumes and then passed them over her body.

"It is the ritual for strength."

The team was so caught up into what she was doing that they hadn't noticed the man who had arrived to the side of the dome. They all snapped around acknowledging his presence.

The man walked straight towards the woman as he stared at the prisoners. Then they started talking in a strange language.

Sheppard took a glance at Teyla. "Do you know what they're saying?"

"I have never heard that language before Colonel," Teyla replied as she shook her head slightly.

Ronon stood up slowly and said, "Me either."

John looked back at their captors. The man had Asian features too, tall as Ronon; the hair was blood red and cropped short. He was wearing black pants and a clear shirt and he had two large daggers on his back, which had a bunch of weird symbols on the handle. The blades looked as deadly as they were beautiful.

The man abruptly stopped talking with the woman and turned towards the team, "I am Gregos of the Nessia. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

John stood up and faced Gregos, "I am Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, and these are Dr. Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex. We came to this planet in search of traders and friends."

Gregos studied him, and then he replied. "Friendship is something you have to earn."

John was taken a little back and didn't immediately know what to say next. There was silence for a minute, and then John finally said, "How are we going to prove that we mean no harm, when you are holding us captive?"

Gregos nodded. "We need to be very careful when it comes to trading partners. We do trade, but very rarely. What can you offer us?"

John shifted on his feet and looked from Gregos to Ilu and back. He was now the one doing the studying, "We can offer lots of things. But what can you offer us?"

Gregos smiled, "Whatever you need…" John took the hint; they could play that game all day and get nowhere. Gregos continued, "We can play this game all day. But I rather talk about something else, where do you come from?"

Rodney immediately contributed his two cents to the conversation as he answered, "We are survivors from Atlantis."

John waited for Gregos to recognize the place, but Gregos shrugged and replied, "Never heard of it."

At this Teyla frowned, "You do not know about the ancestral city? The ancestors?"

Gregos turned to face her, "The ancestors? Nothing but a tale of old to tell the children at night."

Then without warning the girl blurted out something in her language, but she must have said something Gregos didn't liked because he just shouted, "Ilu!"

The woman stood up and put on her leather shirt, while Gregos turned to look at the group, "I am very sorry, my sister has a little trust problem."

Rodney stared between the two siblings, "Why? What did she say?"

Gregos smiled and replied, "That she should have killed you on sight."

John frowned and glanced from Ilu to Gregos, "I'm glad she didn't."

Gregos moved around the shield eyeing the team carefully. "We're not like that. However, we have no tolerance for betrayal or deception." He walked towards where the team's weapons were gathered and picked up a P-90. "These are remarkable."

John eyed Gregos cautiously, "Those are not for trade."

Gregos placed the gun back on the ground and smiled at John. "We have you imprisoned; we can decide to keep these."

John could see that Ronon was getting impatient and that Teyla was trying to keep him in check. John looked back at Gregos and answered, "You could but you won't."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're interested in what we have to offer."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Gregos gave Sheppard a rather amused look.

"Seeing you here." John saw Gregos frown and decided to continue, "You could have sent us away without saying a word. But here you are, trying to make a conversation."

Gregos smiled at John, even with the elusive conversation, John really felt that Gregos was just trying to make sure they were trustworthy.

Gregos moved towards Ilu and grabbed her bag. She gave Gregos and angry look and kept silent. From the bag he extracted a small black device with two symbols on it. Gregos pressed the top one and there was a faint electrical sound and the dome was gone. Then Gregos placed the device back on the bag, while glancing at the Colonel. "For some time we have been searching for healers."

Rodney was suddenly on the alert, "What do you need a healer for?"

Gregos stared at Rodney as if he had asked the world's dumbest question, he replied. "To heal the sick."

Rodney scoffed and John almost smirked, but held it back as he saw Rodney get annoyed. John turned to face Gregos and said, "What he meant to ask was the specific purpose of your need for a healer."

Gregos frowned, "Our healing potions are effective to some point, but they're not enough. We know that sometimes, in more advanced societies, healing teachings are better. And now we're in dire need of healers because the planet where we went for these advanced healers was recently culled. My people are now on basic survival, and we are not really sure when our healing methods will no longer be effective."

John nodded and replied, "Yes, I think we can work something out."

"You have good potions and healers?"

"That and much more…" Rodney blurted out, but he stopped when John glared at him. He turned to find Ronon growing more and more impatient while Teyla had become very still. Ilu and Gregos eyed each other with worry, when they suddenly heard someone in the woods shout something in their speech.

Ronon could no longer control himself and growled, "What is it?"

Gregos and Teyla answered at the same time, "Wraith." They stared at each other for a moment, and then Gregos turned to leave, "Ilu."

John certainly didn't want to remain a prisoner while there was a culling in this world. "We can help you."

Gregos turned, "We don't need your help."

John wasn't ready to give up so easily. "With the Wraith, you always could use extra help."

Gregos took one more look at the team, "If nothing happens we will talk later. But if you are not honest this will be a good time to leave." Then the siblings were gone.

John motioned to the team to pick up their guns and follow the siblings. They went into the forest right through were Gregos disappeared. John looked to his side, finding Ronon had disappeared through the trees. John knew that Ronon would be more than able to deal with the Wraith on his own.

So, they kept walking, Teyla and Rodney staying close to his side. There was noise above and around them. The noise of bodies moving and the trees creaking all around, it was so overwhelming that John looked at the trees above and he could only see people using the thick branches as a way to move towards the Stargate.

Rodney turned, as they got closer to what looked to be the gate clearing, and he spotted Ilu climbing in a nearby tree. For the first time Rodney wondered where the hell they were. There were supposed to be Wraith around, but why were the people running towards them, instead of running away or hiding.

As they got closer to the tree line, they could see the Stargate in the distance. They had to duck for coverage behind a very large bush as a group of 4 wraith passed by. Teyla crawled a little away from it, trying to get better look of the Stargate. There she informed John that there were around a dozen Wraiths circling the gate. John moved closer to Teyla's position while Rodney tried to take a look from the other side of the bush.

Teyla had a confused look on her face, "It is strange to see them like this. They usually stay at first on their ships, and then they come down. But not like this."

John took another peek, "I know, it's weird."

The scene was indeed weird, because they were the only people hiding on the ground. The noise on the trees was still going on, but it had gone down a bit, enough to be confused by wind hitting the trees.

Rodney took another look to where he had seen Ilu and noticed some of the Wraith walking around nearby. Then suddenly all hell broke loose, multiple war cries were heard all around the clearing. Teyla, John and Rodney could only stare in bewilderment as people began to come out of the trees, taking the Wraith by surprise. John managed to spot Gregos in the distance fighting a pair of Wraith in a way that rivaled Ronon.

But he was not the only one. There were at least 20 people out in the clearing, men and women alike. What happened in the field was a massacre, the natives showed little mercy to the aliens. There was no fear on the faces of the natives, if someone was afraid it was the team. They wondered what they had gotten themselves into as they witnessed how none of the Wraith managed to touch one human being.

Rodney turned once more searching for Ilu, just in time to see her throwing herself from the tree and landing on top of the Wraith that was standing nearby. She managed to entwine herself holding his head in place. In one fluid movement, she reached for her back and took out the handle of a dagger. She moved it quickly releasing the curved blade, the tip facing the Wraith underneath her and then she sliced the creature's neck, which sent her tumbling down to the ground. She stood up really quickly and dodged a couple of stunners heading her way. Then took out her gun and shot the paralyzing chokers to all nearby Wraith until there was no more ammo left for her to use.

John finally snapped out of what he was witnessing and stood up to join the battle. Teyla and Rodney followed suit. John shot his way through, killing at least two Wraiths and spotted Ronon slicing some more. There were a large group of people out in the field, some fighting the Wraith and others making their way towards the remaining creatures around.

Slowly, there was less and less Wraith alive. Teyla managed to kill another and Rodney impressed himself when he shot another in the head. Only to have Teyla push him out of the way of a stunner blast, John moved into the open and killed the aliens shooting at them.

And then he noticed it.

Silence had fallen onto the field. The Colonel walked towards the bodies of the wraith he just killed. Where he spotted Ilu walking pass him and stopping next to the paralyzed Wraith.

What happened next came as a surprise to the team. Ilu pressed one of the buttons on the choker and at once the Wraith's head was severed from his body. Teyla turned away and Rodney uttered a few words in disgust. Definitely not something they would want to see happening again.

Gregos and Ronon appeared at their side; Gregos stared at the bodies lying around, and then glanced at the team, "Come with me."

Gregos walked back into the woods, while Ronon cleaned the blood off his sword. John started walking and said, "Well… this is going to be interesting."

Rodney nodded and Ronon placed his sword back into its scabbard. For a moment John thought that things couldn't get any weirder than what they had just seen. He should have thought better, the one true law in the Pegasus Galaxy was that everything could get much, much worse.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: during the rethinking and revamping time I had, at the very last minute I decided that the original chapter wasn't working. So, I decided to change it completely. The essence is still there, but the rest is new.**

**V. Who, why, how?**

The moment John Sheppard thought he had returned to the land of the living, it became clear that he was no longer in the dark lab. His back felt sore, and as he tried once again to open his eyes, his hand reached for his back, finding nothing. There was nothing indicating he should be in pain in the first place, no sore spot or wound, not even dry blood.

It was at that very moment that John realized that he was in a really uncomfortable position. His eyes tried once more to open, and managed to stay open. John looked around taking in his surroundings.

He was on a white bathtub inside a large and luxurious bathroom. He tried to sit up, but then John's head exploded in pain. Still the Colonel moved until he was sitting straight, then he felt the back of his head. There was a large and painful bump just above his neck.

John started looking around trying to make sure his eyes were not playing games on him. Still he was inside the bathroom. When all bewilderment passed, John decided to stand up, and as he did he noticed the unusual choice of clothing he was currently wearing. A very stylized blood red suit, it was all crumpled and dirty, but a suit nonetheless.

His feet felt cold touching the tile floor and as he moved towards the door, John realized that he was suffering a hangover.

Once in the room, he looked around, as he couldn't believe his eyes. The room must have been a suite, because he had never seen one like this before. It had luscious beddings and curtains, full bar, gold walls and fixtures and a brunette on the bed.

John did a double take. He walked towards the bed and looked at the girl; he rubbed his hands on his face.

Questions arose in his mind, where the hell was he? Where the hell Rodney was? How the hell did he got here with the girl? Who in turn was sound asleep, John moved towards the bed and on his way, he grabbed a shoe from the floor. Then he proceeded to poke the girl on her legs.

Nothing.

Still, he tried again. The girl just mumbled something turned around and continued sleeping.

The phone started ringing. The girl didn't even notice, as John slowly made his way towards the nearest phone. Once he picked it up he was surprised to hear the caller speaking.

"Hey Sheppard!"

John frowned. "Ronon?"

"Who else? What are you doing?"

John didn't know what to say, he was still taking in the new setting, "Um… I'm just waking up."

"Did you had a good time with Sabrina?"

"Who?" John had no idea.

"Sabrina, the girl you took to your room last night."

John looked at the girl, while he thought about what to say. "Yeah… well, I don't really remember much about last night."

"Let me guess, you woke up in the bathtub again." Ronon said in an amused tone.

"Uhmm…"

John really didn't know what to say; he didn't know the situation or the setting. Not even if the people he knew, were in fact his friends. Then Ronon spoke, "Ok, just get dressed and meet us at the restaurant. They're serving breakfast now."

"Ok, I'll be there." John said playing along. He needed more information, before doing or saying anything. For all he knew, what happened with the aliens was just a bad drunken dream. But this could also be the dream.

With that thought in mind he took a quick shower, and got dressed. He grabbed the first pair of jeans and a plain white shirt. He needed answers and he knew the person he needed to ask the questions to.

John needed to find Rodney.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Screams.

That was all he heard. Rodney sat up wildly looking around. He was on a large bed on what it looked like a nice hotel room. Rodney looked to his right side and a beautiful blonde girl lay there. Then when he moved to his left, another blonde was sound asleep.

Rodney looked around in surprise, not really believing his eyes. The last thing his brain gave him was the memory of the nasty aliens staring at him as they pierced his back. He shivered just to think about it, to know that one of them had crouched beside him to watch him scream.

Maybe he had died. Yes, he died and went to playboy heaven.

But before he could think about it anymore, the phone ran. There are no phones in heaven; at least that he knows of.

Rodney moved on the bed and stood up, he was all naked. Quickly he grabbed a sheet from the bed and covered himself, not that his companions cared. They kept on sleeping as if it was dead as a grave.

Once Rodney picked up the phone, he knew who it was. "Hey Rod! I bet you had a good night!" Ronon said through the phone.

"Uhm…. Well."

"I admire you Rodney, you had a chance and went with it. I wish I was just as lucky."

"I don't really know what happened last night." Rodney said truthfully.

"Oh man, you're just like Sheppard. Ok, just join us for breakfast. The group will be waiting for you two at the restaurant."

Rodney frowned, "You two?"

"Sheppard, I just called him"

"Ok, I'll be down in a minute." Rodney decided to go with it too, he had no idea of what was going on and he wanted to see Colonel Sheppard. He was the only one he knew that was captured by the aliens. Ronon said his good-bye and Rodney hung up the phone. He wasted no time in changing into the only clothes available, a surfer style swimsuit and a shirt.

Once decent, he walked out the door only to run across Colonel Sheppard as he walked out of his room.

Both men looked at each other, maybe considering for a minute if they were the real John and Rodney.

They moved in closer to each other. Sheppard looked around as if looking for witnesses. "Rodney?"

"Sheppard." Rodney said as he frowned at the Colonel.

"What is going on?" John asked softly.

Rodney let out his breath in relief; he wasn't crazy. "I have no idea."

"Ronon called me."

"Me too, I was about to head to the restaurant." Rodney said. They were still not moving, still looking at each other as if looking for a flaw. Sheppard made the first move, "Then let's go."

Rodney followed in silence.

They were in some sort of hotel. The building looked a bit Mediterranean with something else that John couldn't quite figure out. All he knew was that it all seemed strangely familiar.

The place was big and located near a cliff, facing the ocean.

They walked in silence for a full minute before Rodney asked, "Weren't we supposed to be tortured by the weird looking creatures?"

"I know, but somehow we've landed somewhere that looks remarkable like Earth," John said without looking at Rodney, whom in turn was looking almost as if they faced with this kind of situation every day.

"What about the thing they put on our backs?"

John could only shake his head as he himself tried to understand the reason for all the craziness they had been going through, and were still going through of that he was sure. "I don't know, and to be honest… I don't think I want to know what's going on."

"Ronon and Teyla are waiting for us. Maybe they have some answers for us," Rodney said as if trying to keep himself calm. Then he continued, "But if we're meeting them, then they got caught too. In which case, we're really, really screwed,"

John glanced at Rodney. "I know."

They had no idea of how to get to the lobby or the restaurant for that matter. They knew that as long as they followed the signs they would probably end up where they had to be.

The lobby was quite large; the ceiling was at least three stories high and had no windows or doors. It was just a really large open space, which was filled with large couches and chairs. The lobby had a sand-like color that matched with every piece of furniture and even the plants.

At the end it had some white doors to the left and a great view to the back. As they walked towards the view, reaching the back of the lobby, they discovered that in fact the lobby didn't end there at all. There was a staircase to the side that led to the pools. While they walked towards the stairs John suddenly stopped. "Wait…"

"What?" Rodney asked bewildered.

"I've been here before."

"You have? When?"

John glanced around one more time as if to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "Years ago… "

"This is not real…" Rodney said more like a statement, than a question.

"I know, but I've been in a place just like this before," John couldn't quite wrap his mind around it and continued down the stairs. Suddenly, Rodney elbowed him in the side.

"There they are," Rodney pointed a little to his right.

John followed his lead and saw Ronon and Teyla standing by the bar. They continued walking, closing the distance between themselves and the bar. The moment Teyla noticed them she giggled completely out of character. John had never imagined he was ever going to hear Teyla laugh like that. But she did anyways. And she also looked quite different from how he last remembered her. She was wearing a bathing suit, a really small and skimpy bikini no less. Teyla ran to greet them, leaving Ronon by the bar.

"Oh my God!" Teyla giggled again. "Guys, you look SO cute today! I bet you're all tired from the naughtiness last night!"

John and Rodney eyed each other with the weirdest look they could muster that moment. "Teyla, what's going on? Where are we?" John asked bewildered.

Teyla frowned. "At the hotel, you silly."

"I know, but what happened to you?" John looked her up and down.

"What do you mean? I've been with Ronon the whole time. We didn't want to disturb you guys, in case you wanted to be in your room a little bit longer," She gave a little wink to her last statement.

Rodney shook his head, not quite getting what Teyla was referring to. "Why would we want to stay in our room?"

Teyla gave Rodney a sexy smile and replied. "Well, you two were obviously in good company last night."

"But as always, John screwed up by getting too wasted to actually do anything." Ronon said as he approached the group, he was holding a cup of coffee.

Teyla looked at the Colonel in almost pity. "Ahh… you fell into the tub again?"

Rodney eyed him suspiciously. Ronon continued, "One of these days my friend, you're going to hit your head bad."

"You fell on the tub?" Rodney asked in curiosity.

Annoyed he looked at Rodney and replied, "I woke up in the tub, there's a difference."

Rodney smirked, but before he said anything Ronon said, "Ok, I'm starving guys, why don't we eat something before meeting Elizabeth on the island?"

"Elizabeth's here?" Rodney asked frowning in the process.

"Yes, but she's already on the beach. We're meeting her after we eat."

It was then that John knew that this Teyla and Ronon couldn't his friends.

Ronon and Teyla walked to the restaurant behind them. Rodney and Sheppard lingered back for a moment. "What do you think?" John asked.

"I don't even want to say it out loud."

"Virtual reality?"

"Environment."

"Whatever, you get my point."

"Do we get to have breakfast?"

John turned his head to look at Rodney. Rodney shrugged, "As long as we are here, we might as well enjoy it. And that…" Rodney pointed to the restaurant, "smells good."

Sheppard decided to go with it, he wasn't sure of what was going on. In any case, if they were in fact on a virtual environment it was going to be the aliens who decided when to change something.

Once inside the restaurant, both of them walked straight towards the buffet. There were all kinds of eggs, pancakes, waffles, fruits, French toast, regular toast, hash browns, coffee, all kinds of tea, cereal… in short all they could ever wanted for a breakfast.

Rodney grabbed a little bit of everything, while John just grabbed a box of cereal. Something had changed in their environment, and somehow he was feeling it. All of the sudden, John had grown tense and jumpy. He started seeing shadows everywhere.

At first he dismissed them as just plain paranoia, but then he saw one of the creatures staring at him from the end of the room. John stayed still and didn't say a word, he was afraid that Rodney might panic and something bad could happen. But just as he appeared, the creature was now gone.

John finished his virtual breakfast and walked out when the rest of the group was finished. Rodney kept glancing at him in question. But John just shook his head and kept walking; the fun was now over and it was the alien's time to play.

They walked through the hotel until they reached a funicular that took them down the cliff and to the shore. There they waited silently for a boat to arrive, which it was supposed to take them to a tiny island, about 10 minutes away.

John remembered the place all too well now. He had been there before with a now ex-girlfriend. His girl had been fascinated by it, because on the island the beaches looked like small pieces of paradise. As he looked at the water John remembered the good times that brought them to this nightmare.

Once inside the boat, John started to feel funny and it wasn't seasickness. He started seeing the alien's hand near his own. Then as he sat on his chair, he saw the hands again. This time they were going to Teyla's neck. She didn't react to them, but the hands were moving as if they were going to strangle her.

In a rash reaction, John jumped near Teyla trying to grasp one of the hands.

Ronon stood up and stayed between John and Teyla. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Rodney was looking at him with a worried expression. John looked around and everyone was giving him the same annoyed expression. Feeling out of air, the Colonel turned around and walked towards the outside. Once there he saw another alien, which disappeared as he walked past a column.

John took the stairs and moved towards the second level. There was no roof and no place for shadows to hide. But as he got up and looked around, one of the creatures was standing right in front of him.

The alien was much closer than what John would've liked; suddenly it spoke. "What is your kind doing here again?"

John was in shock; he had no way to think how to answer to the thing in front of him. John started walking backwards without looking where he was going. The creature spoke again in a tone that was half guttural and half a whisper. "Tell me Lantean!"

John reached the rail; there was nowhere else to go. Then the creature grabbed him by the neck and pulled him up. They were now facing eye to eye. "In time, you will tell me. We just have to try again."

Then the creature pushed him over the rail. John tumbled down and managed to grab the rails of the lower level. There he struggled, trying to come back aboard, but it was useless.

Then he felt a hand on his; startled John looked up and saw Rodney trying to pull him back. But in their struggle John slipped and fell to the water.

As the Colonel hit the water, all went silent. The sun over him enhanced the blue of the ocean making the scene almost enchanting. But as he surfaced, John heard another big splash, and then Ronon's voice. "You guys are no fun! Go back to the hotel!"

And without looking back, he left them there. Rodney surfaced a second later he was looking at the boat in shock. "The bastard pushed me!"

John stayed in place; he moved just enough not to drown. Then after that moment of composed silence, he screamed in rage.

"This would have never happened if you would learn how to be quiet!"

Rodney was instantly offended, "ME? ME? What about you?"

"I was trying to protect our position!

"And I did nothing I haven't done before. You were the one acting like a lunatic. You followed me and hit me while we were in clear danger!"

John fell silent, and felt bad. It was true what Rodney just said, but there was no way he could explain it to Rodney. He had hit his friend for no apparent reason and his outburst had landed them here, in the middle of a virtual ocean.

"I'm…" But before John could finish, Rodney was suddenly pulled down. "Rodney!"

Rodney managed to surface again and shouted, "Something is grabbing my leg!" Then he was pulled under again.

John struggled to keep hold of Rodney's hand, but in the water that was useless. He slipped and John had no idea of how to grab him back.

He swam for a couple of minutes, while looking down to the water. There was no sign of Rodney; right there he understood the graveness of their situation. Not only they were prisoners of an unknown race, but also they were trapped on a virtual environment where they had no way of escaping unless their captors wanted them to.

Then quite as suddenly, he felt a slimy hand on his leg and was pulled underwater. Going down he heard a voice saying, "Let try again… shall we?"

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter VI: Ghosts of the Past**

As the sun started setting on the horizon, Gregos lead the team deep into the forest. They walked quite a while before they came to an area, which didn't have that, many trees, but their branches nevertheless blocked the sky out. Gregos stopped next to a particularly large tree and pointed up. Everyone followed his finger and gazed upwards where they noticed a tree house. The trees provided it with great cover and it was connected to the trails in the forest. The house was made out of wood, build in a circular way with a balcony all around it.

The vegetation surrounding the house had grown wild; providing an extra cover so if you didn't know the house was there you wouldn't be able to see it. The only thing connecting the house to the ground was a staircase, which was well hidden as part of the trunk and it went all the way up until it disappeared through the house's floor.

Quietly they started up the stairs, disappearing inside the house one by one. Once inside the house a young girl greeted them, she smiled at them as if they were something fascinating and strange. The girl was just a little shorter than Ilu and they could have easily been twins if it wasn't for the fact that the girl looked to be in her teens and her hair fell to her waist.

Gregos greeted her and walked further into the room. The place looked bigger far bigger up there than from below on the ground. There was a hallway to the left, which the team assumed it lead to the other rooms. Then to the right there was a big room, which held what looked like a very empty and very old kitchen. There was a table with some chairs around it, right in the middle of the room.

Another room had strange furniture, the chairs and foot rests were made out of really big horns and white and brown fur.

Ilu went straight through the hallway without saying a word, while Gregos motioned them towards the table. He turned to the younger sibling. "This is my youngest sister, Ilona."

Teyla smiled at her, while Ronon gave her a short nod and Rodney waved while John smiled and said, "A pleasure to meet you."

"Did she shock you?" the young girl asked a bit overenthusiastically.

"Ilona!" Gregos scolded at his sister while leading the team towards the table.

Ilona glanced at her brother and replied, "What? That is a good first impression," -her gaze turned towards the team and waited until everyone was seated. "Is it not?"

Every member of the team stared at Ilona not quite getting what she was referring to. Rodney was the first to speak up. "Shock us? What do you mean?"

Gregos looked at the Colonel and pointed at his neck. The team's faces showed confusion until they finally understood. Rodney looked at Ilona. "Oh! Those things…."

"Yes, she shocked us," John finished for Rodney.

The girl's face lit up in amusement. "She does that to every stranger that comes through the ring."

Gregos moved towards the cabinets and took out a bottle with blue liquid in it. He placed the bottle on the table and sat down. Ilona searched through the cabinets and brought a few small glasses, before sitting down next to her brother. She started staring at Rodney and for the remainder of the conversation her eyes remained on Rodney, a big smile spread across her face.

Gregos smiled and turned towards the team. "I imagine you have questions."

"Yes we do," John said.

"I don't understand why there were so many Wraith here and yet no ships," Teyla continued, quickly glancing at John.

Gregos started filling the glasses and gave the first to Teyla. "There's a clan, who uses this planet as training grounds."

John frowned. "Training grounds?"

Gregos continued, "They send groups of young, and sometimes not so young Wraith. The young ones usually run away or die. But sometimes there is a group or an individual that manages to get out of here alive. On a good training day, it means some casualties in the village. On a bad day, none of them leave. Today they had a really bad day."

Ronon finally broke the silence. "That can't be it. If they can't beat you they must want to destroy you."

Gregos nodded. "Yes, they do come by ship sometimes. But usually my people hide in the old ruins. For some reason, they have never been able to find us there."

The team tried to digest the new and weird information about these people. Gregos handed each one of them a small glass and filled it with the blue liquid. Then he continued, "Still, they only do that to reduce our numbers."

John thought about Gregos' words, as he tried the liquor. It tasted almost like grapefruits. Rodney stared at the liquid in suspicion; Gregos frowned. "Is not poisoned. If we wanted you dead, we would have done it a long time ago,"

Rodney eyes went wide open. "That's so comforting to know."

"Give me a moment." Gregos stood up and walked towards the hallway. Once there, a faint discussion was heard. Ilona didn't even care about the discussion, as it seemed that it was something she seemed quite accustomed to.

She stared at Rodney and kept smiling while she whispered. "Don't worry; they do that all the time."

John and Ronon smirked at Rodney, and as was usually the case it irked him quite a bit. "What?"

"I think you have an admirer," Ronon said quietly, making Teyla smile.

John was about to add something else, but was sort of interrupted by the sudden silence between Gregos and his sister, and both came out the hallway.

Gregos turned towards the team and said. "I am really sorry about that."

"Don't worry, I understand that she doesn't trust us," John said.

"Going back to our original topic, the Wraith are fighting each other for the food supply. Why do they consciously leave this place untouched? Why use it as training? Weren't the Runners for training purposes?" Rodney asked

"Don't forget sport hunting too," Ronon quickly added.

Gregos' eyes moved from Ronon to the Colonel. "You know about Runners?"

John nodded slightly, Ronon seemed lost in a thought for a moment, and then he said, "I was one until recently. "

Gregos' face turned into a smile. "Then I am going to tell you something you might like."

The team stared at Gregos, as he started speaking. "Four generations ago there was one Runner called Alxi. One day he decided to stop running and fight back in one place. He had recently discovered this planet, where by hiding in the old ruins he had evaded a certain death. The planet was deserted, but livable. So, he returned home and took his wife with him."

John suddenly cut him off. "He what?"

"He brought her here and protected her every single day. He managed to get and kill every single Wraith that came through the ring. One day a group of people appeared through the ring. They were escaping from their recently culled world. With that group, came another Runner. Once this new Runner knew of my ancestor, they made a pact; they would protect the people, while trying to have all the things they had lost since becoming Runners."

"But these Runners have been dead for a long time ago. Why does the Wraith still come here looking for them?" Ronon asked intrigued.

Gregos shook his head. "I do not know. They keep coming here and we still protect the rest of our people. We think that these Wraith search for the device they use for tracking the runners. Like some sort of prize…"

There was a short silence, before Gregos started again. "Are you sure you can help us with healers?"

"We might need to know exactly what you need, but yes," John said.

Gregos nodded and then smiled. "Well, I'm sure you want something in return."

"Yes! Maybe…" John started, but Rodney finished, "...letting us see these ruins you talked about."

Then John added. "Also, show us how you fight the Wraith."

Gregos stared at the team and then replied. "Ok, I think that it can be done. But it will better to talk about it tomorrow with the elders."

"That sounds perfect," Teyla said.

"You may rest here tonight. I will show you the village in the morning. Use the last room to the right, I can't promise you'll be comfortable, but you will survive one night," Gregos finished with a smile.

John stood up and thanked Gregos; Ilona was quickly on her feet and showed them to their room. Once she closed the door, the team looked at each other in surprise. John looked at Ronon in particular and asked. "What do you think about this?"

Ronon walked across the room and sat on a bed. "Is worth looking around."

"You must feel in heaven… a village founded by Runners. That's kind of weird," Rodney added.

"And extremely risky," Teyla added.

The door opened revealing Ilu carrying some blankets; her expression was of a kid who was just grounded. "These are for you. We're leaving very early, so I'd suggest you get some rest soon."

"Thank you." Teyla said trying to be friendly.

But it was all in vain, "don't thank me, thank Gregos. If it was up to me, you would be sleeping outside." She turned around and headed to the door. "Good night."

"Someone's in a bad mood." Rodney said as he looked out the window.

John walked to the door and looked outside. He saw Gregos and Ilu together in the kitchen, talking softly. At least things were looking brighter now. They needed to wait and see the village to be sure, but at least they weren't in a small, stinky cell.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII: Inside a WHAT?**

John coughed; he still had the feeling of water going into his lungs. But as he opened his eyes he noticed one slightly difference; he wasn't on the beach anymore. Instead he was in the middle of a broken street where the temperature was low, and dry and Rodney nowhere to be sighted.

Where he was? He had no idea; the street didn't looked like anywhere he has been before. There were people running and screaming, the streets were filled with rubble and there were some weird sounds in the distance. John stood up and started looking around. He called the Rodney a couple of times, but with no success.

Suddenly John heard someone groan on the other side of the street, the Colonel looked around to find the source of the groan. Then he found what he was looking all along, Rodney.

John helped the confused scientist stand up, while Rodney looked around. "What happened? Where are we?"

John looked around again. "I don't know, but now I'm getting the impression that I've seen this place before."

Rodney stood up straight once he made sure he wasn't injured and glances around. "You know what? Me too, but I don't think I've been here before."

John noticed that now the people on the street had disappeared, the only ones there were them. Then behind Rodney, as he took one more look around, at the far end of the street something large came into view. John noticed and there he understood where they were, and he wasn't thrilled about it. "Rodney, do you remember the last time we went to Earth, we had two days off on the SGC, as we waited for the Daedalus to be ready? Then we decided to go watch a movie."

Rodney frowned. "Yes, why?"

John took Rodney be the shoulders and made the scientist turn around. " Because we're inside that movie!"

Rodney's mouth just hanged open as he was left speechless. At the end of the street, stood one of the gigantic tripods of the War of the Worlds movie.

"What kind of torture is this??" Rodney said exasperated.

"I don't know and I don't care." John replied as the tripod sounded their thunderous horn. Suddenly people appeared out of thin air and they all ran in Rodney and John's direction.

At this point John grabbed Rodney by the shirt and started running a fast as they could. As they ran away the tripod started shooting everything. People around them started turning into dust just as the rays hit them.

They ran aimlessly, trying to find some secure shelter. John started thinking, trying to remember how the movie went. Just to make sure what kind of tools were available to them. Then he remembered that there was supposed to be a car that worked, but he felt that it was a bit overoptimistic the thought that they might find it.

As they ran, they stumbled into people dust and rubble. They evaded the rays within inches. John looked at Rodney and shouted, "We can get the car! Do you remember which way it was?"

Rodney didn't even bother to look at the Colonel. "How the hell should I know? I was watching the movie, not living it!"

Making the car a lost cause, John kept on running until his sides ached and his legs were on fire. Rodney started falling behind, and then John decided to stop for a moment. They didn't talk; they just looked around glancing back at the tripod in the distance.

Then they heard a deafening BOOM, which flattened half the street they were in. Thinking quickly, John decided to get out of the streets and find a good place underground. There were some untouched houses to their right. John signaled them to Rodney and quickly headed towards them as the tripods decided to make another round.

Once near the empty houses, they ran inside the closest one and headed straight for the lowest part of the basement. Rodney helped John secure the door and then stood still in the middle of the room.

They stared at each other and John pointed at Rodney. "You're covered in…"

Before John could finish Rodney looked down at his clothes and noticed that he was covered in grey dust. He quickly started shaking. "Oh my God! This is people! Oh God!"

With all the shaking the basement started to be covered in a dust cloud. John started pacing back and forth, while glancing at Rodney. "Stop that."

Rodney seemed to calm down a bit and John just walked around the basement. He was trying to come up with a reasonable answer to what they were going through. Maybe this was the freaky alien's version of entertainment. But why?

They had been captured by the creatures, and this was some sort of virtual environment. But still John knew that their bodies were not in good shape wherever the real world was.

Rodney shook himself some more and then stared at John, "What the hell is going on here? What do they want?"

John didn't answer, he just shook his head. He really didn't know what to say, it could be a game or just a twisted plan. A ploy to use their memories and knowledge about everything they have done and seen.

John finally walked towards the back wall and slid down to the floor. There he looked at Rodney, his face didn't betrayed emotions, but his next words did. "I don't think we're in the Runner's planet anymore."

"Why do you say that?" Rodney asked as he moved in close to John.

"Because these aliens came through the Stargate, do you know what happened to the others or if we were moved some place else?"

Rodney sat besides the Colonel. "No… do you think someone might be able to know where we are."

John seemed to think about the question for a moment then he glanced at Rodney. "No one is coming."

"Hey! I'm usually the pessimist one."

John gave Rodney a grim smile. "I don't doubt that if possible Elizabeth will try. But do you know if Ronon and Teyla are ok? Do you know if they are here too? Do we even know if anyone back at home has any idea of what happened to us? We're on our own Rodney."

The sound of the tripods above them was now louder, indicating that the things were getting nearer. Rodney rested his back against the wall and said, "We're really screwed."

Silence fell again among them; the John stood up and started looking at the ceiling. "What if we die here?"

Rodney seemed to think about it, and then replied slowly, "Maybe… we... die for real."

"I doubt this is the Matrix, Rodney. No, if they wanted us dead, we wouldn't be here. They want something from us… " John had decided not to tell Rodney about the alien on the beach environment, he would simply freak out.

Rodney now stood up and walked towards the door. "Earth?"

John eyed Rodney. "Maybe… but now I'm beginning to doubt it."

"Why?"

"Because they would have already known about Earth. They are in our heads; they have seen part of Earth. If they wanted it, we would be seeing other things besides alien movies."

Suddenly the room started shaking; the sounds of the tripods now filled the room. John looked at the ceiling. "I have an idea," then he ran to the door and outside. There was no longer a house on top of them, just more rubble.

Rodney ran after him, almost in shock. He shouted at the Colonel, but John ignored Rodney completely. Once outside John thought about the alien's last words to him, "Let's try again." And if that worked for them, John was going to figure out if it worked for him too.

John looked back and noticed Rodney following him, but then he was taken by one of the tripods and thrown into the small cages they carried.

From there John looked back to where Rodney was and saw that he was running towards the tripod. John closed his eyes, virtual or not, he didn't wanted to see as Rodney was hit by one of the tripod's rays.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ten pages long... I hope I'm making someone happy. **

Chapter VIII: The Village

The sun had barely come out and Ronon decided to walk out of the room before the rest of the team. There was no one in the hallway, or the kitchen. But a door to the balcony was open. He stepped into the balcony and found Ilona sitting on the border of the balcony. Her feet were dangling, and once out she turned to look at Ronon. "Hello," Ilona said.

Ronon gave her a nod and walked towards the girl and sat down besides her. They stayed silent for a while, until Ilona glanced at Ronon. "Is it true that you were a Runner?"

"Yes."

"You must have fought with hundreds of Wraith."

"You could say that," Ronon said hiding a smirk.

"That is very impressive. I can not wait for the season to be over, so I'll be able to fight them myself."

Ronon frowned. "Aren't you a little young?"

Ilona stared at Ronon. "Young? I've been training since I was a child. Those who are selected to become Watchers are taught the skills to defeat a Wraith in hand to hand combat while they're still children."

"Is that what your brother and sister are; Watchers?"

Ilona nodded, but before she could say anything else Gregos voice was heard from the door, "We watch and protect our people."

Ronon turned and stood up. He couldn't believe that he didn't sense Gregos arriving. Gregos glanced at Ilona and ordered her something in their speech. Ilona stood up and walked inside the house.

Once the girl was gone Ronon said, "We were just talking."

"I know. I just wanted a quick word."

Ronon nodded and Gregos walked out to the balcony. "Why did you ally yourself to them?"

Ronon was amused by the question, although he didn't show it. "What do you mean?"

Gregos stepped in closer to Ronon. "Well, you do not dress like they do. And you said last night that you were a Runner until recently. So, why are you with them?"

"They are the reason I'm no longer running." Ronon said without hesitation.

"Is there anything about them that I should worry about?"

Ronon frowned. "Why do you ask me? I could be a traitor among the team."

Gregos leaned against the wall. "You are the hardest to read, and it is people like you I am accustomed to dealing with. Yes, you and your team might be conspiring against us, but I was very serious when I said that we do not tolerate deception."

Ronon smirked. "You have nothing to worry about."

At that moment, there was some noise inside the house and Gregos turned around and walked in. Ronon followed him and found the rest of the team in the kitchen. Colonel Sheppard was looking out a nearby window, while looking worried, "Are you sure Rodney?"

Rodney was getting a plate of weird looking fruits from Ilona, who was giving Rodney her most winning smile. He just gave her a small polite smile and looked at the Colonel, "Why would I lie about something like that? It tasted like cherries."

"Are you sure?"

"Believe me, if it was citrus, I would have screamed before you said anything."

"Mine tasted like grapefruit, and I don't want you having allergic reactions if we're out in the woods."

Teyla stood near Sheppard watching the scene unfold. "Mine tasted like grapes John; it might be possible it was not just one flavor."

Ronon saw Gregos smile. "It varies from person to person, is a recipe we've had for ages. Said that our fathers themselves created it."

John relaxed, Rodney grabbed a fruit and Teyla sat besides Rodney. They ate in silence, until Gregos announced that they should arrive at the village before midday.

Ronon looked at the siblings, while he waited to leave. Gregos was in full gear; his pair of daggers was secured on his back. His clothes were simple yet practical. The same was for Ilona and Ilu.

Ilona wore pants just like the ones Ilu was wearing, but instead of a leather shirt, she had a piece that looked more like a vest. That's when he noticed the little symbol on their clothes. It was almost like a triangle, but not quite, and then it had three circles around it.

Ilu had waited until the last moment to walk out of her room. She walked straight to the balcony where she grabbed what looked like a rope and went out and down the house without saying a word.

Once everyone had climbed down from the house, and after many protests from Rodney they were heading towards the village.

They walked in silence until they reached the village. Ronon felt strange, but not in a bad way. This village, even if it wasn't technologically advanced, they certainly had other qualities. It was different, while other planets people look scared and frail; these were proud and showed no fear. Every man was armed to the teeth, and half the women dressed just like Ilu. Ronon assumed that it was to distinguish Watchers from civilians. The women were also armed, some with swords others had daggers. Only a few of the men had weapons that looked like Ilu's gun. The children were different too.

There were some youngsters running around acting just like kids. While others just stood still as they passed, the kids were probably in the same level Ilona was. They inspected the team and talked amongst themselves.

The place was on the edge of the forest, most of the houses where on the trees while others were scattered around the place. Forming a semi circle, Ilu and Ilona broke from the group and into the village. Ilona didn't look happy; she had spent the whole trip trying to get Rodney's attention. But Gregos looked at his sister said something and Ilona walked away towards Ilu. Gregos turned to look at the team, "We will join them later. Now, follow me."

There was a group of old but not so frail looking people gathering on the centre of the village. Gregos moved towards them and started talking. Ronon listened carefully, even if he didn't understand one word he could at least be aware of their body language. For that one, he needed no translator. At the moment the group looked like half was interested on what Gregos was saying and half was more interested on inspecting the new comers. One of the younger looking men in the group responded to Gregos, and then the warrior just nodded and walked back to the team. "They have issues to attend and will meet you later. But they have allowed me to show you around. Come on."

Gregos lead them towards the biggest house on the ground. There, a group of old, but not so frail people were sitting on a round table. The meeting with the elders was short; it consisted on only making the introductions and the promise of a more thorough meeting later.

Gregos then lead them through a narrow road out of the village. As they went in further the place turned more unusual. The road took them around a hill and down. After the village was out of sight, they could finally see some very high mountain, but strangely the trees were scarce in this part of the planet. Long fields of nothing ran from the hill they were standing on to all the way into the horizon.

The trek was long but the ground made it easier, after and hour of walking Gregos focused their attention on the fields. As they step in further, long black things appeared in the distance. As they got closer, Gregos said, "Those are the old ruins."

Ronon looked at the things once more. Now they really looked like ruins, the ruins of a very old and advanced looking city. There were still buildings standing, others were cut in half or almost completely destroyed. And everything looked like it had happened a long time ago. Most of the buildings were black, but they still had a glow that made them look like black mirrors.

Ronon stopped to look at the place, the rest of the group stopped with him. He turned to look at Gregos. "Why don't you use the city?"

"The buildings are not stable, and we feel that the Watchers can do a better job by using the forest. In here we are out in the open, and far from the ring." Gregos replied, and then he decided to continue, "Besides, we have what we need in our village. We concentrate in the here and now, because our future might disappear in an instant."

"Have you ever seen people or things in there?" Sheppard asked.

Gregos frowned. "There is no knowledge in our history that someone has ever lived there."

Rodney put his hand in the air and asked, "Can we go and take a closer look?"

"Why?"

"I'm just curious; I want to see what's inside."

"Why?" Gregos asked in a firmer tone.

"Because there are things we might recognize as we…" Rodney said rather quickly. Teyla decided to cut him off. "Gregos, we have gone many places and to meet a race that makes underground hideouts like yours is really interesting. Even if those people are gone, we might be able to replicate what they did and save millions in this galaxy."

Ronon was glad Teyla intervened, she always had an ability to talk to people and he admired her for that.

"We promise we just want to have a quick look around." The Colonel finished.

Gregos seemed to think about it and then nodded. "Okay, but it must be quick. We still have a long way to get to the hideouts."

Sheppard smiled. "In and out, I promise."

"Then come this way." Gregos lead them away from the road and to the shattered buildings. He lead them towards the first building in their path, it was the only one that was still practically intact. The building was tall, almost 20 stories tall. There were no visible windows, but as they got closer they realized that if light hit the building in a certain way you could see the insides. The doors were shattered; they looked to be black like the building. The insides made it seem that they were made of stone.

As the team walked in the building, there was a sense of death and decay around. The place had a small lobby, but nothing else. The group was silent for a while; Teyla had taken out the video camera and was recording everything. Then they walked further into the building, finding a room that was as black as the exterior of the place. It had a large table in the center of the room. Rodney took out his energy reading equipment and scanned the room. "There is something here."

Gregos frowned. "What?"

"I don't know," Rodney walked around the room and turned on his flashlight. Then he continued, "It's very faint, but it seems to be coming from this table."

The table was large and square. It had some symbols etched on the surface borders. John turned to Gregos. "Do you know what that means?"

Gregos shook his head. "No, we never come here. All we know about this place is what I already told you. We do not have the knowledge or the necessary equipment to meddle with a place such as this."

John then turned and glanced at Ronon, "What about you?"

Ronon shook his head. "No, all of this is completely new for me."

John then walked towards Rodney. "Can you tell us what it is?"

"No. The thing started blinking when I tried to find somewhere to connect my equipment, but this is like nothing I've ever seen before."

John stood up straight and then said, "Ok, just leave it. We can…" but Rodney cut him off. "We can't leave this now!"

"Rodney, we still have places to go, why don't we wait until at least the tour is over?"

"That could have something." Rodney said pointing at the table. But Sheppard turned and looked straight to Rodney. "And the blinking will still be there when they finish showing us around. Come on."

Gregos then moved towards the exit. "We should go now. I don't want nighttime to catch us on the outskirts of the village. I can handle Wraiths, but there are some animals on this side that are beyond my skills."

"Are we safe now?" Ronon asked.

"Yes, but our destination is far away and days are short this time of the season."

The Colonel nodded and they all followed Gregos back to the road. Rodney kept looking at his scanners but said nothing. Once back in the road Gregos looked at Ronon, "Is that a handmade sword?"

"Yes." Ronon replied as he took out his sword.

"I imagined so, may I?" Gregos asked as he looked at the sword. Ronon eyed Gregos and then handed the sword to the Watcher. Then he said, "The blade is metal from a Wraith ship, and the handle is the bones of a particularly nasty Wraith."

Gregos moved the blade testing its weight and handle. "Is very light, good for quick fights…" Then the Warrior straightened his arm measuring the length of the blade. Then Gregos stared at it in silence and handed back it to Ronon. "Is a little rough, but well done."

"Thanks."

Gregos kept walking while Ronon fell a bit behind as he placed the sword back on its sheath. Colonel Sheppard and Teyla walked to his own pace beside him.

"People around here just live as if the Wraith are nothing more than one more pest they have to deal with. But more importantly; they are not afraid." Teyla said softly.

Rodney walked near the group and added, "Wouldn't that make them overconfident about their abilities? What happens the day they can't fight back?"

John bit his lip and replied, "No more villages to protect."

Ronon didn't say a word; the place looked like the perfect place for a Runner to live in. But he knew for sure that when the time comes, and the Wraith gets tired of the little training camp the whole society will die.

They continued their walk in silence. It was well past midday when they arrived at the underground hideouts. The place was at the bottom of a mountainside. They knew where it was because there was a black shimmering door in front of them. That looked to be made of the same materials the buildings in the ruins were made.

Gregos opened it up and walked inside. The team followed close to Gregos as they looked around. The insides of the "hideout" resembled almost a windowless palace. The place had high ceilings, long hallways, big open spaces and lots of doors leading towards individual rooms. The team had to just leave their mouths open, as John broke the silence. "This is no ordinary bunker."

Ronon moved away looking around at the place, which seemed to have its own source of light. "You can say that again."

Gregos showed them the main areas and once finished they gathered by the main doors. Teyla was the first to talk. "This is impressive Gregos, it is no wonder your people have survived for so long."

"How do you get your water while you're here?" Sheppard asked curiously.

"There's an underground stream that runs straight through the middle of the compound." Gregos responded quickly.

"How do you know when it's safe to get out of here?" It was Rodney's time to question.

"We don't, usually some of the Watchers will stay outside and will warn us when the danger is gone. But other times we just have to wait and…

Ronon cut him off, "Just see who waits the longest."

Gregos nodded to Ronon and then smiled. "We give thanks everyday to our fathers, who found this place. But we must leave, there is one more thing I want to show you before you leave."

Quietly they made it out of the hideout, and then instead of using the trail they came by, Gregos used another road to their right. They were beginning to feel tired and the trek was made in silence. But before Rodney could ask how much they farther had to walk, they arrived at the edge of the forest. It was a clearing that resembled the one where the gate was. But instead, there were two stone altars. On top of them there was something that looked very much like coffins made of stone.

Gregos turned to the team and said, "Please meet Alxy and Farris, these are our fathers and those who founded this place for us to live in."

John walked towards the altars followed closely by Ronon. Ronon was looking around the clearing, sometimes at the trees. Teyla glanced at Gregos. "Why is this place unprotected? If the wraith manages to get here, there is no need to keep this planet as a training ground."

Gregos smirked, "Who said that it was unprotected?" He followed to shout in his native language. This almost created a chain reaction as replies on their language were heard from all around the forest edge.

"Nice plan." John said a bit impressed.

"Thanks."

"Why do you need us? You seem to have it all here, and not to mention you are very well protected." Ronon asked curiously.

"As I said before, we only trade when we feel is worth it. Medicine is not our strongest points and we can always use more friends."

Rodney frowned and crossed his arms. "Is that your decision to make?"

"Rodney!" John snapped.

"No! There are "elders" in the village, but all we've done is talk to him."

Gregos looked at the Colonel and said, "Do not worry, I understand his concern. I am the leader of the Watchers; leadership of the group is hereditary. And both the start of my lineage is lying right in front of you. The elders still have high regards to those direct descendants of our fathers. It will still be their decision to contradict me, but they know that most of the time I choose our allies wisely."

"Have you ever been wrong?" Teyla asked

"Yes, I am only human." Gregos then looked at the sky and back at the team. "What better way to know your intentions than by taking you out here? I just showed you the places we use the least, to monitor your behavior."

"You were testing us?" John asked as he frowned.

"Pretty much. We've done it before and managed to keep our people safe away from scavengers." Gregos stopped allowing the team to digest what he just said, and then he continued. "Come on, we should go back, it's going to be dark soon."

The team followed Gregos back to the village, walking through a different road lead them quickly to the village. They arrived in a clear area that had two houses. In the middle there was a circle, where two boys were fighting with wooden swords.

The team looked at the boys for a moment, seeing how they mimicked almost every move. Until the shortest one, crouched on the ground and slammed his wooden sword on the other boy's legs; making the boy fall.

After this Ilona walked out of one of the houses and greeted her brother. Then she looked at the team and waved. "Hey!"

Behind Ilona, Ilu appeared. She nodded at the team, and looked to be less defensive about their presence. She said something quickly to Gregos, and before he could reply a large man with long hair ran towards the Watcher leader. They spoke quickly and quietly, but Ronon knew that something was off and he saw it in Gregos eyes.

Trouble.

Gregos replied to the man and he took off, then Gregos glanced at Ilona and said, "Ilona get inside."

"Why?"

Sheppard walked closer to Gregos, "What is going on?"

"I need to investigate some visitors that just arrived through the gate. You can stay here if you like but we need to go."

Ilona looked angry, "I can help!"

Gregos just glared at the young girl, "Ilona, I'm not saying it again." Then he turned around. "Ilu!"

She was already ahead of him, as she started sprinting towards the forest trails in direction towards the gate.

That didn't settle well with anyone on the team, and Ronon was ahead of them. He just followed Ilu before the Colonel could stop him and disappeared into the forest.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Gregos was already on his way towards the forest, the team jogged behind trying to keep up. But it was only Teyla who managed to keep with the man.

John had slowed down waiting for Rodney. But they managed to arrive near the gate clearing pretty quickly. They were close enough to see who had arrived to the planet. But what John saw stopped him in his tracks. There were dark creatures hovering near the gate.

In a moment of fascination he then realized that he had lost Gregos and Teyla and they were nowhere to be seen. John glanced at Rodney and back at the creatures. To his surprise the creatures were all staring towards his direction. The Colonel hoped the foliage between them prevented the aliens from seeing them.

He was wrong, just as one of the creatures appeared to their side.

John acted quickly and shot the creature without a second thought. Then the creature stumbled and that gave them time to find another hiding place.

John shouted to Rodney to follow him, and they ran through the forest without going to anywhere in specific.

"What the hell are those things??" Rodney asked as he ran.

"Just run!"

It was already dark, in the blink of an eye the place had turned into pitch black darkness. Suddenly people started crying out in the distance. They weren't the only ones in trouble. They kept running deeper into the forest; until John found a spot where he felt they could be protected. He signaled to Rodney to be quiet. Once in position, they just needed to wait.

But for some reason John felt weird as if his mood was going downhill all of the sudden. He looked around and they seemed to be alone, but John cursed.

The creatures were still out there waiting for them, he just knew it.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: New chapter, this is not a repost from the last time. Read it and enjoy it. Feedback is welcomed.   
IX. The Loony Within 

The last thing Rodney remembered was the heat of the ray that hit him. It wasn't real, that he knew, but he couldn't shake the memory of feeling his blood boil and his skin burn into nothingness. Rodney didn't know why, but he expected to wake up again with the tripods.

Maybe it was the wish that the nightmare would stop, at least with the tripods he would know what to do and where to go. But with each new setting the possibilities of something going horribly wrong were larger.

As he opened his eyes, Rodney waited weary as he took in the sounds of the room. He was in a bed; it wasn't a very comfortable bed. He was inside a small white room that only had the bed where he was lying on. Sheppard was nowhere to be seen, so Rodney did the only thing he could think at the moment… he went looking for the Colonel.

As Rodney walked out of the room he noticed that the main color everywhere was white; everything was white. The white antiseptic ambient was creepy, but Rodney ignored it and walked out into the hallway.

There was no one in sight, at least as far as Rodney could see. To his right there was a white fence; to his left the hallway continued almost endlessly. At the end of the hallway there was what it looked like a large lounge room.

As he got closer, Rodney noticed that there were people in the room. He slowly made his way towards the large lounge. Just as he entered the room, Rodney saw Elizabeth.

He did a double take. It sure looked like her, but this Elizabeth had longer hair and was pale as the snow. Right there Rodney had a horrible feeling; he was in a room full of people he considered friends. People he knew they weren't with him when they were taken. So the alien's research had gone a step further, they knew a bit more about them as individuals.

This Elizabeth was dancing to imaginary music. As he walked pass by her, he stared noticing familiar faces on the room. Teyla and a Wraithed Ford were playing with dolls. Strange dolls as Teyla held an Amazonian looking Barbie and Ford had a G.I Joe, complete with the standard Atlantis uniform, and the doll house; a perfect replica of the city of Atlantis.

Rodney made a big mental note; he decided to try not to think about Atlantis at all.

The place reminded him of a setting of a book he read long ago. But as he looked around, Sheppard was not in sight. Suddenly he heard the fence open; as he turned to look Carson had walked in. He just stared coldly at the group of people in the room and said, "Rodney McKay! You have a visitor."

Rodney frowned, but said nothing. He identified himself and the Carson look-a-like lead him out of the room. Once outside, he walked down the large staircase, he noticed who was his so called visitor; his sister Jeannie.

Rodney decided to do as they've been doing; play along.

Jeannie gave him a small smile as he walked towards her. "Hello Rodney." She said softly.

Rodney stopped, his sister rarely called him by that name. Still he remembered that he was only playing along, so he looked around. They were alone. "Hello Jeannie."

"You look better. How do you feel?"

Jeannie led him towards a set of chairs and they sat down. He took a while to reply her question.

"Couldn't been better…" he stopped himself. It was hard to play along when he didn't know what they were really doing to him. Then he decided to add, "I'm being held hostage by a group of aliens who think this is a form of entertainment. How is your day?"

Virtual Jeannie frowned at Rodney, "Come on Mer, we've talked about this. You have to let that go. There's no aliens, no secrets bases, nothing. Is just your mind playing nasty tricks at you."

Rodney tilted his head as he took in her words, "What are you going to tell me next? That my friends are not real, that the last three years of my life had been a dream?"

"I'm not going through this again Mer. The doctor told us you were better, you're obviously not."

Rodney breathed deeply and replied, "What do you really want?"

That seemed to take her aback, "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean." Rodney felt eerily calm, but given the situation his panic had weaned down long ago.

The fake Jeannie frowned for a moment, then relaxed. "Your confidence amuses me."

Rodney's face chanced, he knew that the fake Jeannie saw all the colors of the rainbow running through his face in a second. The aliens were somewhat letting the curtain down, still coming forward like this is something that Rodney didn't expect so he reapeated. "What do you want?"

The alien Jeannie smirked and replied to Rodney. "I have ten different answers to that question. I doubt you will like any of them."

"Where is Colonel Sheppard?"

"He's no longer your concern."

"Of course he's my concern, he's my friend and I want to know where he is."

The alien Jeannie was about to reply to Rodney when the Carson look-a-like walked in the room. "Is time to go back McKay."

"What if I don't want to go back?" He said with more courage than what he really felt.

"Then we just…" The alien Carson stopped talking all of the sudden. Rodney was taken roughly by two big orderlies. Already walking up the stairs he noticed there was a sudden change in the aliens' behavior.

Rodney was escorted back to the lounge room. Strangely Ronon was not part of this setting.

As he walked in the room, something weird happened. There was a flicker, like when you're watching TV and the signal goes suddenly off and on in a second.

Then out of nowhere a Col. Caldwell look a like stood beside Rodney. He froze and stared at the man. Caldwell had a glazed look, but still he looked at Rodney. "You have to be careful. Aliens are among us; they watch us and probe us. There's nothing we can do about it."

"Okay…."Rodney moved away from Caldwell without uttering a word. The place was not real, the people were not real either. And yet he was missing the only one who was in this with him. Rodney scanned the room looking for Colonel Sheppard, but he couldn't find him. People talked around him, but Rodney couldn't understand a word. Then he started seeing shadows moving around the corners or disappearing in a blink of an eye.

Rodney stopped walking; he could not understand what was going on. He suddenly heard Sheppard's voice. "This is a real one."

"No is not!" Rodney answered instinctively. Then he realized he wasn't talking to anyone, which made him feel like a true crazy person. Rodney shook his head and kept on walking through the room looking for Sheppard.

Then he found him, but was stunned with what he saw.

The Colonel sat on a chair at the end of the room. He was besides a big window and the light gave him a weird look. Rodney moved swiftly towards his friend. But when he arrived by Sheppard's side Rodney knew that something was wrong.

Sheppard wore the same hospital attire as Rodney, but there were dark circles under his eyes and the Colonel didn't even acknowledged Rodney's presence. He was just staring at the outside.

"Sheppard?" Rodney called almost in fear.

Sheppard didn't react to Rodney; he just kept on staring out the window. Rodney moved to grab Sheppard on the shoulder, but the Colonel finally reacted when he grabbed Rodney's wrist. "Don't touch me."

"What's wrong?" Rodney asked in concern.

To which John turned his unfocused gaze towards his friend and said, "I am not me."

"What?!"

Sheppard released Rodney's wrist and started to become agitated. He dropped his head to his hands and then followed to cover his ears.

"Something is wrong. I feel as if I'm in two places at once, both stretching me thin."

Rodney wasn't sure of what to do; he stayed still trying to think of something. But before his mind came up with anything, Sheppard looked at Rodney with a panicked expression. "They're inside my brain. With their bugs and plugs, the drugs and dreams…. Please make them stop!"

Rodney was taken aback by the Colonel's reaction, he really didn't know what to do or say. If the aliens were in fact messing with Sheppard's head, there was nothing Rodney could do.

Sheppard double over and rested his forehead on his knees. Rodney walked back until he hit the wall. Then he slid down until he sat on the floor right in front of Sheppard.

"They're planning something." Sheppard said without bothering to look up.

To which Rodney replied, "Of course they are, they're the evil giant aliens who like to recreate crappy movies in their realistic virtual environment."

Sheppard glanced at Rodney for a moment. "I'm afraid."

Rodney frowned, he knew the Colonel well enough to know that in his right mind Sheppard was not a man of fear. They had been in situations that merited screaming for dear life and yet Sheppard always kept his cool and remained as calmed as possible. Now to hear him say the words made Rodney wonder if the Sheppard in front of him was the real one or just a trick of their captors.

Rodney took another glance around the room, seeing his friends and coworkers as a mere illusion creeped him out. Because they looked like the people he cared for, but they were not them. So even if he was among friendly faces, he was alone.

Sitting there made, Rodney feel tired for the first time, and now that he thought of it he was feeling weak too. Everything felt odd; this time the scenario was not playing flawlessly. Rodney was very aware that something was wrong, especially when he started to feel dizzy.

"I wonder how our bodies are doing." Rodney thought out loud. " They must be keeping us alive by some way, I'm just hoping that someone in the village saw what happened. If not, we're so screwed. If they keep us here, I don't see us escaping… ever…"

Suddenly John looked up and said, "Shut up! The plugs are trying to mate."

"What?"

"The plugs… they mate." John replied pointing to his head.

If it wasn't for their situation, that would have been funny. "Well if the plugs mate; that can't be good."

"No, it's not good. It means we're stuck."

Now Rodney was almost sure that if that was the real Sheppard in front of him, the creatures were certainly messing up with him in order to throw them both off balance. "We're not stuck, there's always a way out. But we might need to wait a bit longer if we're going to find it by ourselves." Rodney replied with an annoyed tone in his voice.

Sheppard started rocking back and forth. "Has it crossed your mind that it might be impossible to escape? They have dogs and fences, sticks and very sharp nails."

"You're making no sense, now shut up I'm trying to think here."

The glare that Sheppard threw his way was one of death. Rodney stared back feeling apprehensive. But before he figured out Sheppard's intentions, there was a loud scream throughout the room. No one seemed to notice the scream, but it was as if a girl was screaming for dear life. Rodney looked around trying to figure out what was going on, when he suddenly felt a pair of hands on his neck. It felt just like the aliens hands; warm and sticky, but instead it was the Colonel. And he had his hands around Rodney's throat.

Rodney fought back and shouted, " Sheppard, stop! You don't know what you're doing."

Sheppard stopped for a moment but kept his murderous stare on Rodney. "Maybe if we die enough times, we might die for real."

Sheppard's eyes changed, they looked more like the eyes of their captors.

"I don't want to die." Rodney shouted in between gasps. But that seemed to fuel the Colonel. He kept his hands on Rodney's neck.

Rodney was beginning to feel his vision graying when suddenly they were almost attacked by orderlies and nurses. Alien Carson stared at them coldly. "We wanted to make this easy on yourselves, your overconfidence and arrogance will be your undoing."

The orderlies grabbed them both roughly and dragged them out of the room. Suddenly Rodney started to get again the feeling that the place was flickering, but this time he saw the lab and some of the aliens in their true form.

But that only lasted for about a second. On their way out, Rodney noticed that Alien Weir followed them, she also had alien eyes. And as they went through the fence she followed them, stopped at the fence and screamed, "The virus within, we know you have it!"

Rodney had no clue what was she talking about, but that seemed to fuel Sheppard and he began to fight against the men holding him. They all approached the large staircase; those holding Rodney moved to get him down the stairs, while they took Sheppard somewhere else. But maybe they let it happen, or it was just plain bad luck. Sheppard was able to shake off the men holding him and launched himself once again against Rodney. He went for Rodney's throat again, but in the heat of the fight, Rodney hit Sheppard on the ribs.

The Colonel let go of Rodney and then Rodney did something that he will question for quite some time. After Sheppard let go of his neck, Rodney kicked Sheppard on the chest, the hit left the Colonel breathless. But at the same time, he lost his balance and fell back, down the stairs.

Rodney couldn't help to feel guilty for the fake death. But his mind wasn't allowed to dwell in guilt as the hospital staff basically ambushed him and he was instantly pinned down on the floor. Then he cursed as he felt the little prick of a needle going into his right thigh. He cursed again, because he learned that every injury, pain, feeling and death felt so real in this place that if they continued like this in the end they would lose miserably.

Rodney's world became a spin as the phantom drug made its presence known.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for how long this has taken me. The bunnies haven't been completely faithful. Also, I seem to only be able to write during the mornings on the days I work. That doesn't give me much time to actually do a lot.**

**Anyways, thanks to Illman for all your imput and Katstale for your patience.**

**Chapter X: The aliens at the gate**

Teyla was trying her best to keep up with Gregos. He stopped so suddenly that she almost bumped into him. It was then when she realized that she didn't know where the rest of her team was. Teyla started looking back, hoping that Colonel Sheppard was just a step behind. But she couldn't see neither him, nor Ronon or even Rodney.

They were at the southern border of the Stargate clearing. Teyla saw why Gregos had stopped; standing by the gate there were two tall humanoid creatures. Their skin was brown and they had large heads, plus the things at the top of their head made them look like a mixture between human and some kind of malicious beast. Never in her life had Teyla seen or heard of creatures such as these.

Gregos, signaled her to move. Moments later they were atop of the trees, looking straight towards the clearing. People moved around them, all inspecting the creatures. For a moment, Gregos seemed to be looking for something; suddenly Ilu appeared as she climbed up besides Gregos. They spoke to each other briefly and Ilu promptly swung herself down from the tree.

Teyla was careful; she didn't know where her team was or what their situation was. She looked at Gregos. "Have you ever seen them before?"

Gregos just stared at the clearing; he was silent and pensive for a minute. And then he replied. "Once… a very long ago."

"Are they hostile?"

"I never saw them doing anything, but last time they visited, half the village died."

"How?"

"We don't know."

Gregos fell silent. Teyla thought it wise to follow suit. Gregos' gaze was set on the creatures. They activated the gate and the two creatures left the planet walking through the shimmering light.

There was a small noise around them and Gregos signaled Teyla to be still, seconds later one of the creatures was walking by the tree. It was slightly different; the skin was considerably lighter than the first two creatures she saw before. It stood exactly by where Teyla and Gregos were on the ground only moments before. The alien seemed to be looking around, and then after just a few minutes, it turned around and walked away.

Teyla tried not to be worried, but her mind wondered where the others were, none had communicated through their radios. And even though the situation merited silence, she knew the Colonel always considered the safety of the team his first priority. She decided to press the button. "Colonel Sheppard, what is your position?" She whispered.

She waited a few seconds before doing it again. "Ronon, do you copy?"

Teyla was beginning to feel impatient, she hears people screaming then as she turned around to see what was going on. That's when she realized that Gregos had thrown himself off the tree and was gone running towards the clearing. But Teyla barely managed to register this as her tree shook wildly.

Teyla whispered an old Athosian curse as she lost her balance. She fell down to the ground.

As she hit the ground, she felt a piercing pain in her left arm. But Teyla had no time to even look if it was broken. As she looked the light brown creature was standing right in front of her. It was as if its stare was piercing her mind.

Teyla took out a knife she had hidden on her ankle. She had no idea if the thing in front of her was hostile; it never harmed her to be prepared. Just as the knife was in her hand the creature grabbed her harshly by the neck. Without thinking twice, Teyla jammed the knife into the creature's wrist.

The alien let out a growl and released her. Teyla got to her feet and ran as fast as she could. Her P-90 now lost, Teyla took out the 9mm from her holster. She looked constantly back, trying to see if the alien was following her. But as she ran, Teyla came out into the open of the clearing. She raised her gun with her good arm, pointing it towards where she had come out of the forest. Expecting the creature to emerge at any moment, Teyla was taken by surprise when it suddenly appeared behind her.

Teyla couldn't react, couldn't even shoot, she was grabbing her head as pain pierced through her eyes.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Ronon sprinted his way through the forest and in the blink of an eye, everyone was gone. He had lost sight of the team; Ronon knew that they needed to get some information on the situation. But still, he was well aware that something bad was going on. Maybe it was Wraith coming back again, but the villagers weren't acting like the day before. They seemed more worried than before, and he was sure it wasn't a culling because there were no ships around.

That's when he saw Ilu swinging down from a tree, and running through the forest. Ronon followed her; he didn't even stop when Ilu climbed another tree gaining some unusual stares.

It was kind of tricky as the branches of the trees were wide, but sometimes he had to go up or down and he wasn't as skilled as the Watchers who were completely used to the tree trails. But Ronon managed, he made sure he didn't fall to the ground. Ilu stopped and started talking to a large man he had seen before on the village.

Ronon turned to look towards the clearing.

The Stargate was covered by one of the big pink rocks; whatever they were looking for it was behind it. Standing up there, he understood why the Watchers used the trees as a hide-out. There was something about the structure of the trees that made them good for standing on them, plus the foliage worked in a way that if there was someone up in the tree, they had almost full visibility, but to those on the ground, the foliage looked dense.

Suddenly Teyla's voice came through the radio, but as Ronon moved his hand to reply to the call, Ilu's hand was on his wrist. She signaled him to be quiet.

Ronon frowned, but by no means was he going to be kept in the dark. "What is going on?" He whispered.

Ilu frowned, but signaled him to follow her. She directed him to another section of the trees. Once they moved, Ronon had a better view of what was near the Stargate.

Never in his life had he seen or heard of beings like the ones near the gate. There, Ronon started to feel mixed emotions towards the situation. His mind was set on the thought that this was not the time to fool around. But somewhere deep in his brain there was something that was telling him that the creatures were harmless; that they should come out and greet them.

The ring activated, Ronon saw the two creatures leave the planet. But as they left, another creature walked into the clearing from the forest, he was carrying a small figure in his right hand. It was Ilona.

This alien was the same color as the previous two, but it had some black lines running throughout its body.

People started crying out from the trees, and a minute later Gregos came into the open. He removed his daggers and made way towards the alien. Minutes later Teyla stumbled into the clearing; she was pointing her gun towards the forest. She looked shaken and it didn't take Ronon too long to jump from the tree and run into the field. Ilu followed but she headed towards her brother.

Gregos came up behind the creature and swung his blade, but at that moment the creature turned around and slammed its left hand into Gregos' chest.

The Watcher's leader landed a few feet away. Ilu started circling the creature, not making any sudden movements. Still holding tightly to Ilona's neck, the alien in turn was doing the same to Ilu.

Gregos stood up, grabbed one of his daggers and threw it towards the creature. Ronon saw how the blade made its way towards the creature. But instead of stabbing it, the alien turned to stare at Gregos and the blade drastically changed its course. It turned towards Gregos direction and picked up speed. The blade stopped on Gregos chest.

That's when he heard Teyla scream, he tried as much as he could to get to her fast. But there was something that was making him stumble. Ronon cursed, it wasn't the time for being clumsy, but his brain did not seem to get the message.

Ronon was finally out of the forest, when he saw another creature dragging Teyla by the neck. She was trashing in its grasp, but nothing she did made the alien release her. Ronon took out his gun and fired.

It was set to stun.

The lighter alien was half way through the field walking by the pink rocks just as the shot of energy hit him.

It stopped.

Then he turned to look at Ronon, it was a defying look. Ronon felt a pressure in his chest and in his head fade away. It was as if his ears had suddenly popped.

The gate shut down and the alien looked at it. Ronon knew there was no time to loose, so he shot again, this time he made sure the gun was properly set.

The alien fell to the ground with a nice hole across its midriff.

Ronon sprinted his way towards Teyla, she was barely moving at all. Then Ronon looked around the field; people were holding Ilu, as the striped alien was still holding to her sister.

Gregos was still down and not moving; Ronon quickly assumed that the warrior was dead.

That's when Ronon felt as if someone just slammed a log to his face. Dazed for a minute, he tried to stand up and go towards Teyla. But all he could do was slither on the ground. There was something keeping him from moving. He looked again towards Teyla, now he noticed that the striped alien was closing in on her.

The creature moved and as it walked by Teyla it looked straight at Ronon. And then the creature moved swiftly and grabbed Teyla by the neck with its free hand.

Ronon froze; he was only focused on getting Teyla out of the creature's grasp. But he could barely move. Ronon saw her struggle against the alien but without result.

Teyla began to scream; he had to do something.

Suddenly he noticed that Ilu broke away from the people holding her and moved towards the rocks near the gate. From there, she climbed the biggest one, once there she moved swiftly from rock to rock, appearing just behind the creature's back.

-0-0-0-

Teyla didn't know what made the alien let go of her. But as she fell to the ground she kept completely still, trying to catch her breath and letting all the new pains in her body fade into the background. She was beginning to feel numb from where the alien grabbed her by the neck.

For a moment she hoped that it was all over. Just as another creature, this one filled with stripes along its body grabbed her by the neck. The creature that seemed devoid of expression gave her a frown. It followed to stare at her intently. Teyla felt its thumb moving across her cheek, and then it roughly turned her face to the right, then to the left.

"Abomination" The alien growled.

What it was doing, or looking for, Teyla didn't know, but its hand became hot. It was burning her neck. Then out of the corner of her eye, Teyla saw movement. As she focused her sight, she saw Ilu coming up behind the creature. Noises accompanied the action all across the field, somewhere she heard Ronon's voice, but all became a haze when something large landed on the creature.

A mass of tangled bodies, human and alien fell to the ground. Teyla felt a sticky substance on her neck, once she managed to sit up, she realized that the creature was dead and the substance was blood. Ilu had climbed on its back and had slit the alien's throat.

The young watcher was now moving the dead creature in order to pick up her little sister.

Teyla moved away from the mess and looked around the field; Ronon was standing up, halfway across the field while just a handful of the Watchers were visible. She held her neck for a moment, and then stood up. She started walking towards Ronon signaling him to slow down now that she was fine.

She tried to clean the dark, almost black and sticky blood off her skin. But she suddenly became breathless and weak.

There were noises all around her but she couldn't make any of them. Pain was creeping in her head, as if stuff was bursting inside her head. Teyla heard someone scream her name, but couldn't identify who it was.

She was drowning in her own screams.

-0-0-0-0-

Ronon was running straight towards Teyla, she seemed dazed and unaware of her surroundings. Ronon knew they weren't safe yet, they had to clear out the field.

More people were coming into the field, their weapons at the ready. There was silence for a moment and as Ronon saw Ilu move her sister.

Teyla moved and Ronon felt a heavy breath leave his chest. She looked at him and then stood up. It was a good signal.

Ronon slowed down, as Teyla started to walk in his direction. She was completely covered in dark blood. She had started to clean it off, but something was wrong. Ronon started running again.

He saw Teyla fall to her knees as she grabbed her head. Ronon screamed her name, but she didn't respond.

She was screaming now.

Ronon kept running but as he got close, he fell down to the ground again. This time his chest was hurting. Once again he tried to be on his feet as soon as he could. But then he heard Teyla scream again, he looked up and there were at least 5 different alien creatures surrounding the clearing.

At this time, he couldn't move. No one else did.

Only one of the creatures moved. It was as if it was inspecting the grounds, making sure that everyone in the clearing weren't able to attack them anymore.

Ronon suddenly felt as if the ground beneath him was moving. But in fact he was the one moving straight towards the creature. His gun was suddenly snapped from his hand and then he stopped.

A pressure started on his chest making him feel out of breath. Ronon looked up, he was lying right in front of the creature, and this one was badly scarred. It had two nasty scars on its face and some on its arms. That's when Ronon left the ground and was placed facing the scarred creature.

If by some chance Ronon wasn't hallucinating, the scarred creature gave him the ghost of a smirk.

That's when the other four creatures moved. The first two walked towards Ilu, the first one was shorter than the rest, and the second one was white. The first one of them hit her bad, she landed by the DHD. The other picked Ilona up and moved towards the gate.

While the gate was active, the remaining two creatures hiding in the forest, walked into the field. To Ronon's surprise and dismay, these two were carrying McKay and Sheppard. Ronon hoped that they were just unconscious, but they looked bruised and beaten.

The pain in his chest intensified, Ronon tried to keep it together as much as he could. Because something was telling him that the creature in front of him was enjoying the whole thing.

He screamed; he couldn't hold it anymore.

Ronon cursed in his mind, whatever the alien was doing to him it was physically unbearable.

Then the creature carrying Sheppard stood besides the scarred one. Seconds later Ronon was dropped on the ground hard. He kept completely still catching his breath.

Ronon turned his head to look around and all he saw was Sheppard, his eyes half open, his gaze empty. Then he noticed that the scarred alien was still staring at him. Ronon stared back in pure defiance.

But then the creature turned around and walked away with the others of his kind. They left the planet and all was silent.

Teyla, he didn't know if she was ok.

Ronon tried to stand up, but he just couldn't. He kept stumbling to the ground, and then he decided to crawl. The creature had done something to him, Ronon felt tired and weak.

When he finally found Teyla, just a few minutes had passed, but to him it felt like half a day. Teyla was pale and unconscious; he called her name a few times but nothing.

Then his head started spinning, Ronon collapsed besides Teyla hearing Ilu's screams throughout the field.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I apologize for the delay once again. It seems that RL want to remove all my fandom activities from my life. Still I do want to finish this thing. So I hope someone enjoys it.**

**This is not as long as I hoped, but hopefully:crosses fingers: I'll update sooner than before.**

**XI. Wake up darling**

Before he opened his eyes John Sheppard wondered if it was worth it anymore. Every time he did, they were sent to ridiculous scenarios. He was tired, his body ached to the bone and strangely he felt hungry. As he opened his eyes he realized that he was lying on his side on the table the aliens had dropped him on. Right beside him, in another table Rodney was lying unconscious.

John tried to move, he ached as if someone had beaten him to a pulp. He could still feel the metal device attached to his back. John looked around and noticed that he was now dressed in what it looked like a hospital gown. But it was the same material as the clothes of the aliens. He moved but couldn't sit up, so he slid off the table. But when he reached the floor his legs gave away and he fell.

Sitting now on the floor, John looked around. Their clothes were scattered around the room. Then he looked towards Rodney.

Rodney was paler than usual, fearing the worst John moved closer to him. It was difficult, but John managed to stand up and slowly walk towards his friend. He moved Rodney a couple of times, which only lead to a couple of low moans. John placed his hand on Rodney's shoulder and shook again. "Rodney, come on. Wake up. This is a real one."

"No is not." Rodney replied so soft it was almost slurred.

At this point, John moved him into a sitting position. Rodney opened his eyes for a moment; John took this moment to move Rodney out of the table. It was pretty clear that he wasn't ok, but anyway John helped his friend get off the table. Strangely he was feeling better by the minute. Rodney was barely conscious and was mumbling incoherently. John knew that escaping was going to be difficult, but maybe getting away from the alien's grasp will give them enough time to think of something.

They had a window of opportunity and he was going to take it.

With Rodney secured in his grasp, John walked out of the room. The scientist seemed as if he was on automatic. The phrase, "the lights are on, but there's nobody home" seemed to fit perfectly. John maintained his pace, he wanted to make sure that they were out of harm's way by the time their captors found out they were gone.

The hallways were completely empty. John went around corners, and through doors hoping to find anything that indicated the existence of an outside world. He needed something, a window, a door, even hopefully a working Stargate.

But all scenarios pictured an escape far too easy. He was so deep within his thoughts that he jumped as he heard someone, "Colonel Sheppard!" John moved against the opposite wall from where the voice had come from. But as he stared he realized that it was the girl from the village; Ilona.

"Colonel," Ilona repeated as she walked towards the window in her little cell. "Please don't leave me here."

"Do you know where we are?"

Ilona shook her head while John looked around the door frame. There were two little buttons; one yellow and one orange. "I don't suppose you know which one I should press."

"No, sorry." She replied, there was a momentary silence, and then Ilona spoke again. "Do you know what happened? I was trying to get into the forest when I crossed paths with one of those creatures. Then I can't remember anymore."

John shifted a bit trying to hold on to Rodney. "Sorry, I know as much as you do." He stared at the buttons once more, he had to decide quickly. "Here goes nothing…" John whispered as he pressed the orange button. The door opened silently and in a moment Ilona was helping him carrying Rodney. She was still in her clothes and had some gashes on her face. Even though she wasn't very tall, carrying Rodney with her became much easier.

But with each step, carrying Rodney was becoming far more difficult. Rodney was loosing the little consciousness he had, and they still were out in the open. John stopped for a moment; they were reaching a crossing in the hallway. He had now three different ways to walk to, three different ways his escape could go horribly wrong and three different ways into which he could picture a hundred things going horribly bad.

Ilona was looking at him, waiting. Then he moved; what was going to happen then it was going to happen either if he kept going forward or if he hid under a table. As they got closer to the crossing Rodney whispered, "I don't want to die."

John had a bad feeling, but he replied nonetheless, "we're not going to die Rodney."

But as they reached the crossing three large creatures were waiting for them. John backed away from the creatures only to bump into another on his back. This one grabbed Rodney by the neck as Ilona screamed trying to get away from the alien. John looked around; the one holding Rodney had spots on his skin.

Ilona was roughly taken by the neck by a darker creature. This seemed to fuel something in the girl. She started trashing in the aliens grasp as fiercely as a wild animal would. There was no use in saying something to her, no words would sooth her or calm her down. Inside John knew what she felt. He was feeling it at the very moment, but something held him down. It was keeping his frustrations and his anger at the creatures at bay.

Maybe it was despair, or fear of what would happen next. It made it worse seeing the creatures not talking to each other or to them.

Then the one holding Rodney moved away. And the creature holding Ilona pressed his free hand over her face and she stopped fighting. Once Ilona was out, the creature walked away, leaving John with another two creatures. Then very suddenly the white creature was by his side, taking him roughly by the arm. The alien was almost dragging him. John looked around and saw the entrance to the lab where he just woke up minutes ago. He resisted, but it didn't do a thing. The creature was ten time stronger and he was weak by the whole machine in the back/virtual environments ordeal.

But as they walked into the lab, John realized something; Rodney wasn't there. "Wait! Where's Rodney? Where is my friend?" And then his chest filled with fear as he heard the low guttural voice answering back, "Why do you care?"

At that moment, the creature pushed John against the table he had previously occupied. John quickly turned around staring at the creature, "Tell me! What have you done with him?"

"He's somewhere else." The alien replied lazily.

"Why?" There was silence, John continued, "What do you want?"

The alien seemed to consider John's request, "He was not supposed to wake up. We did not foresee that you would go as far as you did."

"And the girl?" John asked quickly.

"She is with him." The creature started moving towards John, "And now, you and I…." The creature was now in front of him, "we are going to have a little talk."

The next thing John knew, he was roughly thrown back into the table. There were no need for restraints; the creature's brain seemed to do the entire job. For once, John wished he could retaliate the same way. Make them feel, what he was feeling.

"Why have you returned?"

John frowned, "I have never been here or near you before."

The slit pupils contracted a bit as it examined John, and then the alien stood up straighter. "Why has your kind returned to this galaxy?"

"There are humans in this galaxy; they have been here for a very long time." John replied trying to make sense of the question.

The creature moved to the side of the table. "Not humans, Lanteans. Why has your kind returned, I thought we made clear what would happen if we saw you again."

John let out a small laugh; it was more from panic than amusement. "Seriously, I have no idea of what you're talking about."

There was no warning, the creature move its hand and placed it on John's right foot. What he felt next made him tremble to the core. It was as if his skin was on fire, as if the alien was taking the pleasure of skinning his foot inch by inch.

And then it stopped. The creature had removed its hand from John's foot. "You stole something from us, we want it back."

"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about! We come from a planet very far away, and those you call Lanteans are now extinct."

"Interesting, then tell me, why is your genetic material the same as theirs?"

John kept quiet; he didn't know how much more this creature should know about them, about the gene or Atlantis. But that was a mistake, the creature followed to place its hand on John's thigh. The burning pain returned in an instant, he knew he was screaming this time. This was no macho thing, or a place where bargaining could help you. The creatures didn't have any known alliances or weaknesses he knew of. There was nothing he could say to postpone them reaching their goal; whatever it was.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I've been fighting with the bunnies for the past two weeks, begging them to allow me to finish this. I finally have…. all 11 pages of it.**

**I hope someone enjoys it!**

**Chapter XII: In the middle of the mess.**

When Ronon opened his eyes, it was clear to him that he was no longer in the field. He was lying on soft sheets while someone held a damp cloth to his forehead. As he opened his eyes, he realized that Teyla was the one with the cloth.

Her voice was soft, "how are you feeling?"

Ronon searched for an answer, he felt bad but this wasn't the moment to show it. "I'm fine." He replied. Then he looked around and asked, "Where are we?"

Teyla removed the cloth from Ronon's forehead and replied, "Gregos house."

Ronon looked around once more and tried to sit up. His body was aching to the bone, plus he couldn't hide a shiver. Teyla placed a hand on his chest, "wait, you have to rest."

"No, we have to get to Atlantis."

Ronon managed to sit up and faced Teyla. That's when he noticed the dark marks on her neck. "That doesn't look so good."

"It was when the creature had me by the neck, but do not worry. I will be fine."

Ronon nodded absentmindedly, and then he looked at her. "Did anyone saw the address?"

"Not that I know of."

Ronon shook his head; the urgency of returning to Atlantis came back to him with a passion. He removed the bed sheets on top of him and moved to the edge of the bed. Instantly regretting it as his head became a swirl of images light and sound. Then it all faded to black.

When he woke up, Ronon was alone. His body still ached but he was able to stand up and walk to the door. At the moment Ronon moved to open the door, Teyla opened it. She looked pale but otherwise ok. "Ronon, what are you doing?" Teyla asked him in a worried tone.

"We have to go back to Atlantis. Nothing is going to happen if we stay here." Ronon said feeling a little frustrated.

Teyla moved Ronon back towards the bed and said, "Ronon, we might not be able to leave anytime soon. Gregos was badly hurt and they don't want anyone using the gate in case the Creatures decide to return."

Ronon was feeling less than good all of the sudden and allowed Teyla to walk him back to the bed. He listened to her; everything was happening so fast that he was having a hard time just sitting still and let things happen. Teyla continued, "Ilu told me that the elders want to speak with us before letting us go."

Ronon shook his head, which brought a wave of dizziness to his head. He sat on the bed and closed his eyes.

He heard the door open, and Ronon opened his eyes. Ilu was standing there staring at them, "Please tell me, what you are planning to do? I have seen the Creatures and what they are capable of. How do you expect to fight them? Or find them…" She asked in a skeptical tone.

"We are very resourceful?" Teyla answered her.

Ilu tilted her head and replied, "Well that sounds like you have no idea."

"How's your brother?" Ronon asked very suddenly.

Taken aback, Ilu kept silent for a minute before replying, "Near death."

"We can help him. If he stays here he's dead anyways. Come with us, let our people help him. What do you have to loose? We just need to go back home and tell our people what happened."

Ronon tried, the offer was out. They just needed to wait and see if Ilu agreed to it. Slowly she moved to leave the room and said, "I will consider it."

Ilu closed the door and walked away.

At that moment Ronon decided to lean back on the bed. "How are you feeling?" Teyla asked him in concern.

"I'm fine." He replied once more, not knowing how long he could keep it up. Once more, Ronon felt like passing out, but there were more important things to think about. He needed to be awake, if only for just a few more hours.

It didn't take Ilu more than an hour to make up her mind. She walked into the room, Teyla stood up and Ronon awoke with a start. He had fallen asleep without noticing, which was never a good sign. His will wanted him to be on his feet and resolving the problems, but his body was aching for rest.

But it was rest that Ronon had to postpone at the moment.

Ilu looked at them and sharply said, "Let's go."

A small group of people accompanied them towards the gate. Gregos was being carried on a homemade stretcher; blood soaked the bandages on his chest. The walk was tiresome for Ronon; he had started to shiver half way through. Teyla wasn't great either; she started breaking into a sweat and at one point Ronon noticed that she was shaking.

Ronon stopped, the gate was now visible but he was cold and shivering. Teyla moved beside him and placed her arm around his waist. She looked at him, "Ronon, you are burning up."

He said nothing, he couldn't. The only thing in his mind was to get through the gate and nothing more.

Out of the sudden, an incoming wormhole started to activate. Every Watcher in the group raised their weapons waiting for whatever was going to come through.

But as the first person appeared through the gate Ronon shouted, "Don't shoot!"

Major Lorne was the first to appear through the gate. He stayed still until everyone had lowered their guns.

Lorne moved towards Ronon and Teyla as the rest of his team walked out the gate. "Ronon, Teyla, what happened to you?"

"We need to go back now. They're coming with us." Ronon said quickly as he pointed towards Ilu.

"Where are Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay?"

"They were taken…" Ronon ran out of breath. Teyla took over a little weakly, "Major, we must hurry."

Major Lorne gave her a sharp nod and turned around. He quickly gave out some orders and the gate was now open to Atlantis.

They moved, but Teyla's steps began to falter. Ronon wasn't that far behind, his vision was graying and he was panting heavily. They managed to get to the bright puddle, but once on the other side Ronon felt how his only support gave away. Teyla passed out, sending them both to the gateroom floor.

He landed next to Teyla, Ronon was numb and out of breath. As he looked around looking for Weir, Carson appeared in his line of sight. He knew that the doctor was asking him questions, but he couldn't hear him.

Then very unexpectedly, Ronon passed out.

-0-0-0-0

The next few days were a haze.

Ronon felt disoriented and he wasn't able to stay awake for more than a few minutes. There were sounds he hated, familiar smells and voices that made him feel comfortable. During his on and off moments, he saw Carson and Teyla a few times. He heard Teyla's voice but Ronon had no idea of what she had said to him.

He saw Weir one day and at some point Ilu had been near him.

When Ronon finally managed to wake up and stay up, he was alone. His body felt stiff and as he looked around he noticed the machines around him. He was the only patient in the infirmary. Everything he hated about being sick was around him, the monitors, the beeping and the needles… he hated those with a passion.

Carson had just walked out of his office and looked at him. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Ronon replied in an almost automatic tone.

"I don't think that fine is the right word." Carson said skeptically.

Ronon ignored the comment and looked around, "Where's Teyla?"

"I discharged her two days ago."

Ronon frowned, it hadn't felt that long. "How long have I…"

"Four days." Carson answered Ronon before he had the chance to finish the question.

Ronon fell silent, it hadn't felt that long. At least what he remembered wasn't that long, it couldn't be. Carson was asking him questions, most of them he didn't hear at all. A hand on his shoulder brought Ronon's gaze back towards Carson's face. "Stay with me Ronon."

Ronon gave the doctor a small nod and looked around once more. Something was wrong, "Where is Gregos?"

Carson's face saddened, "He died yesterday, his wounds were too great for me to fix."

Ronon kept quiet, he didn't know what to say. He searched his mind; the Creature had done something to him.

There was a long silence, Carson was looking at him.

"Teyla said that you saw Rodney and Colonel Sheppard being taken." Carson said breaking the silence.

Ronon gave him a small nod, Carson continued. "Were they…"

"Alive?" Ronon cut him off.

Carson nodded.

"I think so." Ronon finished, he really wanted to believe that they were alive. No matter how bad things were turning out.

Then it hit him, it was time to do something. Ronon moved to get off from the bed, but Carson was quickly. And with strength Ronon questioned, the Doctor pushed him back to the bed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I need to talk to Dr. Weir" Ronon quickly replied.

"She's coming this way right now. You've been very sick these past few days."

He stopped; something sparkled in Ronon's brain, "Why?"

Carson gave him a confused look, "why what?"

"Why am I sick?"

"We don't really know. When you arrived you had a very high fever and it spiked, you were delirious for two days."

"What about Teyla?"

"She was sick too, but not like you. She's resting in her room."

Ronon didn't like feeling so lost, in fact he hated it. At that moment, Elizabeth Weir walked in the infirmary, "Ronon, how are you feeling? You scared us for a moment there."

He was fine, he felt fine. There was no need for him to be there, wasting time chatting while his friends needed rescuing. But there was no way he could convince Carson or Weir otherwise.

He managed to stay awake for a while that day; Ronon then explained to Weir what had happened. What he had seen and experienced; the Creatures, what they did in the planet, what they did to Teyla, Sheppard and McKay.

Ronon had no choice, but he couldn't help but feel that every minute he wasted was another minute his friends lost. If they ever had a chance of coming back.

He spent another 24 hours in the infirmary, because Carson couldn't keep him any longer. When it came to escaping, Carson began to complaint that Ronon could beat Sheppard and McKay combined. Ronon did agree to keep mostly to his room and just lay low.

Teyla had passed by the infirmary once, they spoke but Ronon felt her distant. He hadn't seen her since, mostly because Ronon managed to get some real sleep. That took most of the following day.

After waking up, Ronon tried to do the things that kept him energized. He ate and went to the gym. After clearing his mind, his thoughts went back again to his friends and what they might be going through. Something came to mind, as he wondered; he realized that McKay and Sheppard were the only ones there that had the Ancient gene.

He couldn't understand why he hadn't made the connection sooner. He didn't know what it meant, but maybe Dr. Weir could bring some ideas, or maybe Teyla.

Then he thought of Teyla, he hadn't seen her anywhere.

Ronon was already accustomed of having her around especially if things were bad.

He quickly made his way towards Teyla's room. Once there he knocked on the door; nothing. Ronon frowned, he had asked around and everyone had told him that Teyla was back in her room. Ronon knocked again; and once again no answer. But suddenly he heard a weird sound inside the room, as if something had fallen to the floor.

Something was wrong, and he can always apologize later walking in the room without invitation. Ronon opened the door, the room was dark. The usual candles that Teyla used were off and the bed was unmade.

He walked in and spotted Teyla on the floor sitting against the wall. Her legs were tight against her chest, her face buried on her knees. Ronon approached her slowly, "Teyla?"

She didn't react to his call.

Ronon moved in closer and touched her on the shoulder. Teyla jumped, startled.

"Are you ok?" Ronon asked; concern was plastered on his face.

Teyla looked frantically around and said, "They're everywhere Ronon. Around me, inside me…." She stopped and buried her face once again against her knees.

Ronon moved in closer to his friend, "Teyla, I think you should come with me."

Teyla seemed offended by the comment, "Where to? Do you want me to see Dr. Beckett? I am not crazy, can't you see them? They're everywhere!"

Teyla started to scratch her arms as if shaking an invisible bug. Ronon tried to stop her, but Teyla started hitting him back.

"Stop it!" Ronon said frustrated.

But Teyla kept on going; she was reacting as if something was crawling up her neck. Taking the distraction as an advantage he grabbed her by the wrists and shouted, "Teyla, stop it!"

She stared at him, as if surprised by his actions. Then suddenly her face changed into anger and slammed her fist on Ronon's face. Her let go of Teyla and fell back, which gave her the opportunity to stand up and run out of the room. Ronon was quickly on his feet and went after her; he managed to catch up with Teyla. He grabbed her by the waist and held her tight. She resisted fiercely, "Don't touch me! I'm not crazy!"

Ignoring her screams Ronon managed to put her over his right shoulder and walk her to the infirmary. And every scream she let out pierced deeper into Ronon. The gravity of the situation had escalated. The Creatures were not a simple ugly society that kidnapped humans. There was something much deeper to it and even darker.

And from this point on, Ronon knew he was alone in it.

-0-0-0-0-

Days went by and the only thing Dr. Beckett was able to tell him was that Teyla was experiencing symptoms of a nanite virus. Ronon had listened to the doctor, as he explained that how the nanites worked and how it almost killed everyone in the base some time ago. Still the doctor was not sure of what happened to Teyla as he explained that she didn't had any nanites in her system.

Ronon was getting tired with all the waiting. He had to do something that at the very least will give him some hope. Watching over Teyla was a constant reminder of their troubles and the fact that she had become violent towards him was even worse.

He had come to a decision; he was going to join the teams investigating the planet.

With this in mind he walked in Elizabeth's office. "I need to go back to that planet."

Taken aback by his outburst, Elizabeth looked up from her computer, "Ronon, I just received a report from Major Lorne, there's nothing there."

"What about Teyla, maybe the cure is there. We just need to ask."

Elizabeth said nothing; they just stared at each other. Then Ronon moved in closer to the desk, "Those creatures did something to us, I really don't know what, but maybe I'm not sick right now because those things never touched me. They touched Teyla."

Hearing this Elizabeth stood up and moved closer to Ronon, "What about other people from the village? Did anyone else was touched by the creatures?"

Ronon searched his mind, he found what he was looking for, "Yes, Ilu."

Elizabeth nodded then added, "But Major Lorne has been working with her all week long. He hasn't said anything about her or anyone else being sick."

"Maybe he didn't know where to look, what to ask."

"And you do?" Elizabeth asked him raising her eyebrow slightly.

Ronon kept silent, he had no idea of what to do. But maybe by being there and retracing their steps he could find something others might have missed. Maybe he could remember something strange or something that could lead him to rescue his friends. "No I don't, but at least is a plan, and I don't have to sit here waiting for something to happen, when we both know is not going to be like that."

"Ronon, you just basically got out of the infirmary." Elizabeth said in concern.

"Dr. Weir, I'm not asking you to send me into battle, I just need to get back there and try to find something." Ronon was running out of excuses, he needed her approval.

She stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, "Ok Ronon, Major Lorne's team still have two days left in the planet. You have until they return."

"Thanks." Ronon replies as he left the office and headed towards his room. He gathered some of his weapons and walked back towards the gateroom. Once back, the gate technicians were ready for him. The gate was opened and without saying a word Ronon was gone.

It was nighttime when he arrived.

Two of Lorne's team were guarding the gate. Then Major Lorne was walking into the clearing and moved towards him. "Good to see you on your feet Ronon."

Ronon kept walking, "what do you have so far?"

"Absolutely nothing."

Ronon stopped taking in Lorne's answer, then the Major continued, "We've talked to the people here. We inspected the planet by Jumper."

"What about their hideouts? Have you inspected them?"

"Yes, and there's nothing there of interest."

Ronon was quiet for a second, and then he turned and started walking. Lorne followed, "Where are you going?"

"Did you look through the ruins?" Ronon answered without stopping.

"We couldn't go by feet, because there were some really big and strange animals around it. But we passed by on the Jumper and there was nothing there. No energy signals, no life signs."

"That's strange." Ronon stopped as he walked into the forest.

"What's strange?" Lorne asked quickly.

"When we were here, McKay found an energy signal on those ruins. Then a couple of hours after that, the Creatures arrived." Ronon said as he started walking again.

"Coincidence?"

Ronon shook his head, "Don't know…. I don't think so." He stopped and looked at the Major. "Where is the Jumper?"

"It's hidden on the south side of the gate clearing."

Ronon nodded, "Lead the way."

Lorne talked to his men on the radio and then walked towards where they left the Jumper. The flight was made in silence, Ronon didn't like to talk when he was feeling stressed. There was some connection with the ruins, his instinct were screaming at him that he might find something in there.

As they arrived the place was completely devoid of life and light. Ronon moved to the back of the Jumper and took a large flashlight. Once on the ground he opened the door and walked out.

Ronon didn't have to stop; he knew where he was going. He heard Lorne's move behind him. As he walked into the dark building, Ronon slowed down. He started to look around as Major Lorne stood by the entrance.

Moving the flashlight, Ronon found exactly what he was looking for. Only that at the moment it was completely off. He tried to search for any buttons, or switches. Anything that would make it back on, but he found nothing.

Major Lorne walked towards Ronon, "Nothing yet?"

Ronon just shook his head, as Major Lorne walked towards the console. The large black table began humming.

Ronon stared at it then stared at Lorne.

Moving fast, Ronon moved towards the exit, Lorne followed him, confused. "Is that what the thing did the last time?"

"Yes." Ronon answered as he moved towards the Jumper.

"What does it mean?" Lorne asked as he walked into the ship.

"It means that we have to warn everybody. No one in this planet has the gene and the last time it happened Sheppard and McKay were near the thing."

Lorne sat down in the pilot chair and looked at Ronon. "Do you think the creatures will come back?"

Ronon sat by Major Lorne and replied, "I'm not sure. Drop me off near the village; I'll meet with you on the gate clearing."

The flight back seemed quicker.

Once on the village Ronon ran around, but there was no one there. Then he decided to head towards Ilu's house. As he got there, there was not a soul around and without invitation he climbed up to the house. Once inside Ronon looked around, he called Ilu's name a couple of times but no reply.

Ronon stood in the middle of the kitchen, something was about to happen. He knew it, but he needed to talk to Ilu.

Suddenly out of the shadows Ronon heard Ilu's voice. "Why are you here?"

Ronon turned around a bit startled and looked at Ilu, "You need to come with me."

"Why?"

Ronon stopped for a moment; he needed to gather his thoughts. "When the Creatures attacked, I noticed you were close to the dialing device. Did you see the symbols they used?"

"We have no use for that; I will never get it right." Ilu said frowning.

Ronon took a step closer to Ilu, "You don't have to. Back in Atlantis, they can figure it out."

"Right, just like you said they could save Gregos…" Ilu shook her head, then continued, "Don't give me false hope; I don't think I can handle it again."

"You're giving up on your sister?" Ronon said annoyed.

"Is there anything else to do? Where are we supposed to look for them?"

Ronon knew they didn't have too much time, but then he proceeded to tell Ilu what happened in the ruins with Major Lorne. Ilu just kept quiet until he finished, then she said, "are you sure of this?"

"I just have a really bad feeling about it."

Ilu nodded, "Ok." Then she walked out to the balcony. Following her steps Ronon asked, "Where are the rest of your people?"

"They have retreated to the hiding place."

Silently Ronon and Ilu walked out the house and down the ropes. As they walked towards the gate, Ilu stopped and climbed a tree. She gave the watcher some orders and climbed down. The rest of the walk to the gate was made in silence, Ilu was deep in though and Ronon was just focusing on all the things his imagination could come up with. He could only think of all the things that might happen in the next day.

Just as they walked into the clearing they were able to see the Jumper. But as they approached the gate, the ring lit up and an incoming wormhole was established.

Ronon took out his gun and noticed that Ilu and Lorne did the same.

A single person stumbled out of the gate.

Ronon just stared in shock.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I've been very, very bad. I know…. Still I hope you enjoy this one. I'm currently working on the next one, but with me you never know.**

**Chapter XIII: Lie still, this will hurt you.**

The creature removed his hand from John's leg and then moved around the room. John panted as he stared at the alien; he was trying to shake off the remains of the pain.

"We just want what General Hippaforalkus stole from us. That is all." The Creature said as it inspected the weird looking and pain inducing instruments lying nearby.

John frowned at the name, he had heard it before. But at the moment his brain was concentrating on other things. Like the tray of little knifes that the creature was moving around. The creature placed the tray by John's table.

"I honestly don't want to use these… give me the information I need and this could go away. You could even go back to your friend."

The Creature waited for a response, but John kept quiet. He had no idea of what to say or do. There were no witty replies or mildly humorous comments to break the ice. He was completely blank. At this point John realized that he was able to move, the Creature was no longer controlling him.

The Creature stared at John and said, "You might consider cooperating with me, others of my kind would not be so patient."

Still John had no idea of what good it could do to him to talk. What could he talk about? He could make up a stupid story, which could give him time to really think something smart. But still it was no use, as he noticed another Creature that walked into the room. This one had scars all over its face; even one of his fins like things a top of its head had a missing tip. It was as if the alien had gotten into battle and lost miserably.

The white Creature looked annoyed at the Creature by the door. John had no idea of what was happening between them. They didn't utter a word, but yet the white Creature ended up leaving the room in anger. While the mutilated one decided to inspect John.

John kept quiet, leaving the room so the new Creature could maybe explain a bit more what exactly they wanted.

"Your ancestors have a debt to pay to us." Said the mutilated Creature, and then continued. "Are you sure you're not General Hippaforalkus? You do look very similar."

John's brain clicked, the General they were talking about was the Ancient to whom the Orion had been originally named after.

"You're kidding me, right?"

The Creatures said nothing and John realized that they were very serious. How was it possible that he could be mistaken for someone who's been dead for more than ten thousand years was beyond him. "I am not the General. I am Colonel John Sheppard from a planet far, far away."

Silence.

Then John continued, "Do you have names? What are you?" John asked to the scarred Creature, then without waiting for an answer he continued. "You seem like a "Matt"… no? "George?" "Brad?" I can go on; there are eleven people in that movie."

"Silence!" The scarred Creature shouted.

Feeling that he needed to buy time John stared at the Creature, "Come on, names are easy. You seem like a Mike…"

"Enough! If you really must have my name, I am Agnok."

John moved uneasily, he could try to stall the Creature some more. But something had been planned for him. And John felt that it was not going to be pleasant.

"Tell me about the General, John."

John frowned at been addressed by his first name, "Well Agnok, all I know was that he was a General and he got a ship named after him. That's it."

"If you are not Lantean, then where do you come from?"

"As I said, I come from a galaxy far away." John replied trying to evade the question.

"The General took something from us and you will tell me where it is." Agnok said very serious.

"Look Agnok, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I think if I knew I wouldn't tell you."

Agnok stared at John, and then said "I apologize, a different method… perhaps?"

Before John could finish he saw the Creature move against a small panel to the side of the entrance. The next thing he knew was a sharp pain in the back of his head. And as he opened his eyes, John only saw darkness. Then after a couple of seconds he saw a very dim light at the end of the room.

It was getting brighter by the second and then he realized very suddenly that he was staring at the walls of his room back in Atlantis. The Johnny Cash poster was in the wall and everything. John knew what the Creature was trying to do, it wanted information about Atlantis.

He wasn't going to give it, at least not willingly.

Suddenly he heard Agnok's horrible voice as if through an intercom. "You know what I need, get it for me."

Then against his will John started walking towards the door. He fought it, but whatever was controlling him was getting stronger. Once outside his walking became erratic almost as if he was walking now like a zombie.

John couldn't help to notice that he was heading towards the old ancient labs. He recognized the area as the labs where the nanovirus had been stored by the Ancients.

John tired to think about other things, the dog he had when he was little or the vastness of the ice in Antarctica. He needed something that would block his thoughts from the damned Creatures. But it didn't make a difference; the only thing that changed was that the vision flickered a bit but nothing else.

John closed his eyes; he wanted to see himself somewhere else. In another place where the Creature couldn't see more of Atlantis. But it was no use, John opened his eyes and he was standing right in front of the door of the lab where the nanovirus had been found.

His hand was moving on its own towards the sensor on the wall.

John felt the heaviness on his body as Agnok managed to control his movements. But he breathed deeply and fought hard against it. He managed to stop his hand from reaching the sensor. Just doing that was taking a lot of strength from him; John closed his eyes to concentrate. Then when he opened them his torturer was standing right beside him. John looked at it and had no time to act. Agnok grabbed him by the neck and slammed him to the opposite wall.

"It is absurd to challenge me; I will get what I want."

John gasped and managed to reply, "Not if I'm dead."

The Creature smirked, or at least John though it did and that sent chills down his spine. Then Agnok said, "If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't even be here. Death is not my ultimate goal John Sheppard… but there is a lot of pain I can cause until you give me what I want."

As the Creature said those words, John began to feel something sharp and hot against his left shoulder. There was nothing there but he felt as if he was been stabbed. Moments later John got worried as his clothes began to get stained with blood. He gasped as the pain ran rampant through his body. At this point John assumed that he was not going back to Atlantis; home. And if that was the case, then he was not going to give that damned Creature the pleasure to see him broken. Not for the actions of someone else that died long, long ago.

"Open the door…" Agnok said roughly.

"It doesn't matter if I open the door or not, you will never get what's inside." John said between gasps.

"What is behind this door is rightfully ours, I am just reclaiming it."

The Creature waited for a moment, but when it noticed that John had no intention to cooperate, the Creature added, "I have no problem in asking the same to your friends. Maybe they will cooperate without so much trouble. There are other uses for this system, I can make you watch your friends and close ones die over and over again. And I will do it until you are just a shadow of what you are now."

That got John's brain in a swirl, if this Creature managed to make Rodney to get it what it wanted it could make things way worse. Rodney knew more of the nanovirus that he did, Agnok could have open access to many other things. And maybe then John won't be allowed to be around and protect his friend. Agnok tightened the grip on John's neck and moved him right in front of the sensor. "Open it."

John's hand moved, but stopped very suddenly midway. "No."

"Now!"

As the Creature shouted, John felt a familiar sharp pain on his stomach. Once again, there was no weapon but John could see the blood seeping out of his shirt. His right hand started to move and hovered on top of the sensor for a moment, then when he was about to open the door an alarm went off.

It was very loud and strange.

The Creature's eyes opened wide and it snarled. Suddenly darkness enveloped them and John found the bliss of unconsciousness. But it was short lived as his eyes snapped open just as Agnok removed a large silver spike from his abdomen.

The pain had increased now and all that John could focus was to stay awake. He needed to make sure that they wouldn't touch Rodney and the girl. But in all the haze John noticed that the Creature was not in a good mood. The white Creature had reappeared on the doorway and they appeared to be arguing. Suddenly Agnok snapped his stare at John and moved towards him.

Roughly it turned John on his side, unconcerned about his wounds and pressed a command on a machine nearby. What happened next made John scream in searing pain as the object embedded on his back was being harshly removed. Once it was out, the Creature moved John on his back and placed a new object on his chest above his heart.

This one was no larger than the Ancient's personal shield. The object opened, and almost resembled a weird bug.

Bugs, John hated them. He was rambling and John knew that it was not a good sign. Because of that he was barely conscious and barely felt the stings as the little object stabbed four large stingers just above his heart.

Darkness surrounded him.

Next thing John knew was that he was being dragged trough a hallway. He tried to call for Rodney, but no sound came out of his mouth. It was then when he realized that he was leaving a trail of blood. John stared at it in morbid fascination.

It was either that or he was getting into shock.

John saw a flutter of bodies and aliens as Agnok dragged him around the place. Suddenly Agnok stopped and picked John up to his feet.

A Stargate activated somewhere nearby and Agnok moved John towards the glittering light. John tried to fight back; he had no idea where they were sending him. But it was useless; Agnok pushed John through the gate.

Once on the other side John stumbled to the ground. His thoughts were only with Rodney and what Agnok might do to him now that he wasn't there. There were footsteps nearby, but his vision was graying and he had no strength to look around

John lay on the ground waiting for death or whoever was around. Suddenly he heard his name and a familiar face hovered above him.

It was Ronon.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Ha! I win… the bunnies had to stay. I think I had to use a chainsaw and some evil glares until they said yes. Still… **

**Ok, just a reminder to those still reading this fic, I came up with the idea for this story way before Progeny and the Replicators happened. So, keep in mind that this is an AU. Also, thank you ****Laura-trekkie**** and ****angw**** for still supporting and letting me know you're still reading it. Even when I've been less than regular in my writing. Another thing is that 75 percent of this chapter was not planned, it just happened in a bunny stampede, still I've never been the best when it comes to writing from Rodney's POV. I hope is ok and not horrible.  
**

**Also, Laura-trekkie… you asked a lot of questions in your last review. With this and the upcoming chapters I'm pretty sure I can answer almost all of them. :D**

**XIV. Unhappy Reunions**

Seeing Colonel Sheppard stumble out the gate was the thing Ronon least expected. But there was no time to think about it. Ronon ran towards his friend. As he kneeled beside Sheppard, Ronon inspected his friend. The Colonel had two wounds in his torso and his back was bleeding. "Sheppard, hey, can you hear me?"

But the Colonel didn't responded. Ronon turned to look at Lorne and shouted, "Dial the gate!" In a quick motion, Ilu helped Ronon pick Sheppard away from the gate.

Once open Lorne called for a medical team, and without thinking it twice Ronon took his friend through the gate. On the other side Ronon felt a collective gasp as they walked in. Ilu helped him placing the Colonel on the floor. As they waited for the medical team to arrive, Elizabeth was almost running down the stairs. She was staring at Sheppard's bloody figure. "Ronon! What happened?"

Ronon told her and she seemed to be doing some quick thinking, "What about Rodney?"

Ronon shook his head and that's when Carson and his team arrived at the gate room. Carson didn't allow shock to take over him; he just went into automatic mode and started shouting orders to his team. They placed Sheppard on a stretcher and started moving him towards the infirmary.

Ronon looked at Elizabeth. "It was all very quick. The gate opened Sheppard came out, the gate shut down."

Elizabeth nodded and then she looked at Ilu, "come with me, please."

Ilu frowned with worry. "Wait, he knows where my sister is. I have to see him once he wakes up."

"I'll take you there once you finish giving my people the symbols you saw. That way my team can start working on finding the right address."

Ilu nodded and went with Elizabeth up to the control level.

Ronon stood for a moment in the center of the gate room. He looked around at the people staring back at him, at the worried looks that plagued the room, at the blood on the floor. Somehow, he knew that even if they had gotten the Colonel back it wasn't because he had been rescued, but because he had been sent back.

That enough was unsettling. Ronon stopped his train of thoughts; instead he turned around and started walking towards the infirmary.

-0-0-0-0-0-

John was tired, tired and very sore.

Also he was sick of the games Agnok was playing on him.

There was nothing around him but darkness, he was mildly aware of people around him. But that could be Agnok and his alien friends messing with him again. The thought of Rodney came to his mind, where he was and what he was going through.

His surroundings changed again and this time his eyes were telling him that he was in Atlantis. Safe on an infirmary bed. But he refused to believe it; this was nothing more than Agnok messing with him. Trying to take things he didn't even knew about.

But his moment of awareness didn't last long, soon he found himself being dragged into a blissful sleep.

He didn't cared, John actually welcome it.

-0-0-0-0-0

Ronon walked into the infirmary only to find it in chaos. John was unconsciously resisting against all that was around him. Making it difficult for Carson and his team to help him. Ronon joined in, helping keeping the Colonel lying down. They had to struggle just long enough for Carson to administer a sedative.

Once John was calmed down, Carson's team followed to keep working on him. Ronon looked at the doctor, "how is he?"

Carson left a couple of his staff to clean the wounds and as they did that he looked at Ronon. "He's in bad shape, and he has those wounds on his back. It could have damaged his spine, but I won't know anymore until I get him in the scanner."

"What about that thing on his chest?"

"Well, it looks like is attached to his skin…." Carson looked at Ronon. "This is going to take a while. I will call you once I have answers."

Ronon nodded and Carson moved towards John.

There was nothing he could do now but wait. And he wasn't feeling so good either. Stepping back Ronon walked through the infirmary to the other side where Teyla was. She was asleep.

Ronon grabbed a chair and placed it beside her bed. Once sitting, Ronon didn't say a word, he couldn't. He was mentally exhausted and very tired. Yes, they had Sheppard back, but just the way they had gotten him back was sending warning signs on Ronon's brain. Also, McKay was still out there and who knows in what state he could be in.

Ronon wished he could stop thinking for a while. And without realizing it, his brain took the advice for once.

He fell asleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Rodney awoke to the coldness of a dark holding cell. The thing on his back was still in place making him very sore. Still Rodney managed to sit against the cold wall. His brain was trying to put together his last thoughts. All he could remember was something about a mental hospital and something wrong with Sheppard. Nothing else, and the fact that the Colonel wasn't there with him was disconcerting.

Rodney looked around and noticed that Ilona was there with him. She was too out cold and for once, Rodney thought that she was better off like that. But listening to another voice in his head, Rodney tried to stand up, but then settled on crawling towards the girl. He checked her pulse and it was strong, Rodney sighted.

Without machines or computers he was completely at a loss. Sitting on the cold floor, Rodney's mind came up with a hundred different ways of how trying to remove the machine on his back could go wrong. And that was without mentioning the thousand ways his stay with the aliens could go horrendous.

He felt Ilona move, but she didn't wake up. That's when he noticed the machine peeking out of the back of her neck. She was probably dreaming of some horrible thing, Rodney shook his head. He was feeling weak and was pretty sure that the Creatures had no real interest in their well being; or the fact that they needed food in order to keep living.

The door busted open, startled; Rodney looked up to see a badly scarred Creature walking in.

"You!" The Creature said pointing at Rodney while shoving what it looked like a weird computer screen, "What does this mean to you?!"

Rodney looked at the screen in his hands and it was full of an ancient code. He noticed something familiar, something he had seen before.

"So, do you know what it is?" The Creature asked as if loosing his patience.

Rodney knew he was in trouble no matter what he said. "No, I don't know."

The Creature growled and moved in closer to Rodney. "Tell me, I can see it in your face."

Rodney looked at it again, maybe it was hunger or exhaustion but he just couldn't say where he had seen it. When the Creature realized that Rodney wasn't going to say anything, the Creature grabbed Rodney by the arm and walked out of the cell. Rodney's feet barely touched the floor, but there was no point in fighting. Fighting might just make everything worse.

Still the Creature walked into the room they had him before with Sheppard. That's when it hit him, Sheppard was no longer there. Rodney was forcibly thrown against the metal table once again and the Creature stared at him. Rodney felt as if the alien was waiting for him to say something. As if he needed to confess some crime he may have committed. Still the alien turned around and typed something on one of their machines. Suddenly the code appeared on larger screens surrounding the table he was in. That's when his brain clicked, it was the code for the nanovirus that almost claimed his life and claimed many others close to a year ago.

Seeing the realization in his eyes the creature said, "Tell me."

Rodney opened and closed his mouth several times; he didn't know what to say. But before he could say anything the Creature pushed a button on the console nearby and all went black. Rodney really didn't know if he was gasping or screaming. But just as sudden all of it went away and he was lying in the middle of the gate room in Atlantis. He stood up and looked around.

Standing on the other side of the room near the stairs, was his interrogator as if waiting for something. Rodney was beginning to feel annoyed and very frustrated. "Why don't you just say what you want?"

"What you call the nanovirus, we want it back."

Rodney frowned. "Back? What do you mean back?"

The Creature moved around as if thinking its next words, "You really don't know."

"If you explained what the hell you were talking about maybe we could come into an agreement."

The Creature started moving towards Rodney, "Our people worked together to create the virus. Our bodies affect some humans and together we decided to use it. They wanted a virus to get rid of the Wraith. Half way we decided that attacking the food source was easier. When your beloved people found out about it they tried to make sure we no longer had access to it. They stormed our planet; apparently General Hippaforalkus felt the need to leave us completely vulnerable. So, the Wraith came in and seeing that we were no food decided to finish us off."

Rodney's mind was racing, "The ruins, that's how you knew we were there. You left your equipment to sense the Ancient gene."

"We want retribution."

"Retribution? Are you kidding me? You are punishing us for something we had nothing to do with."

"You have the gene; you must be one of them."

Rodney was getting pissed off, "how stupid could you be. Do you realize how long it's been since the Ancients screwed you over? We have nothing to do with this."

"Oh… but you do." The Creature gave Rodney a scary smirk, "I know you have seen the code. So, you must know where the Ancients had the whole thing stored."

A pit was forming on Rodney's stomach; he was beginning to see the whole picture. He knew that if the aliens probed his mind, eventually he might give out something important. That could not happen, while his mind raced his thoughts fell on Sheppard. Rodney looked at the alien, "Where's Colonel Sheppard? What have you done with him?"

The Creature was now less than five feet away from Rodney, "he went back home."

To Rodney the Creature's answer could mean a hundred different things. Sheppard could be badly injured or even dead.

But before Rodney could even think of something to say the alien had both its hands on Rodney's head.

"Tell me, where you keep it."

Before he could even fight it, Rodney's thoughts went to his computer and his lab. Once he caught himself he started thinking about the Wraith. Then when he thought that he couldn't hold it anymore he thought of walls and doors. Rodney was trying to keep the alien from probing his mind any further.

"You won't be able to control it much longer; in the end everyone gives in. Just like your friend Sheppard." The alien said almost taking joy in the situation.

When the walls and the doors didn't work anymore, Rodney jumped his thoughts to his cat. He missed that cat; he missed the companionship, the feeling of taking care of someone. Even if it was a pet, he missed how sometimes the cat would play with him and bite his hands or fall asleep besides him on the couch.

The Creature was getting more and more aggravated. "Tell me! Your silence will only bring you death."

"No." Rodney said defiantly.

The Creature growled and Rodney was beginning to feel pressure in his head. Whatever the alien was doing it was probably doing a lot of harm to his body. Rodney began to fight back, he was physically fighting back. This seemed to amuse the Creature who just seemed to put more internal pressure on Rodney's mind.

The pain was getting unbearable.

The Creature screamed in anger. "Tell me!"

Rodney was breathing fast and his mental protections were crumbling down. Still he fought back, even if it did nothing. He had to fight; he had to make this stop. If not he will be dead soon and if Sheppard needed him, his mind had to be in good shape.

He needed to make it all stop.

And it did.

Just as the alien was beginning to see through his mind, something happened that no one expected.

Rodney disappeared, in a way.

For him, one moment he was getting mind raped by the alien the next he fell out of the Creature's grip and to the floor. The Creature was still in front of him, but with a surprised expression on its face. Rodney's breathing was getting back in control.

The alien was not able to see him.

Rodney was stuck to the floor as he saw the alien leave the virtual environment growling. He looked around and then slowly stood up. Rodney was expecting this to be more mind games from the aliens. But the Creature's anger was telling him that this was different.

Suddenly a sound startled Rodney; it was a girl's scream. It was all around the gate room and then it moved to the hallways to the right. He followed it. All he saw was the hallways of Atlantis completely void of life. Rodney turn on a corner and standing at the end of the hallway stood Ilona. She looked at Rodney and then she was frantically looking around as if something was tormenting her. Rodney walked in closer, he wasn't sure if she was able to see him.

And then just as she appeared she disappeared.

Rodney decided to keep walking; he honestly didn't know what to do. Going back to reality meant dealing with the aliens, so if he had to stay hidden in the virtual environment he would do it. Still he wandered towards familiar grounds; his feet led him towards his room. Once there he stood in front of the door, considering it. Still he had gotten this far without being bothered again, so he decided to open the door. As the door opened, Rodney's mouth fell open.

John Sheppard was sitting in his bed, he was holding his computer. They both stared at each other, not really believing their eyes.

TBC….


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: 4360 words… I think that's a record for me.**

**Another chapter of this almost forgotten fic. I'm getting near the end of this, but when will be posted? Not even the bunnies know.**

**Sorry about that. Still… enjoy!**

**XV: Not in the same plane**

He dreamt of the day back in the field.

The stargate was inactive and people ran around him. He moved towards the mess, realizing that he couldn't find Teyla. She was there with him minutes before and now she was gone. He moved deeper into the field where he met face to face with one of the Creatures. Ronon awoke with a start when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to look around Elizabeth stood besides him. "Hi."

"Hi." Ronon replied as he rubbed his face, trying to shake up the remains of the dream.

"Carson called me to give me Colonel Sheppard's status; I thought you might want to hear it too."

Ronon knew that just listening to what was wrong with his friend wouldn't do any help. But he still nodded and quickly stood up to follow Elizabeth towards the Doctor's office.

Carson was looking at his computer when they walked in. As he saw them, Carson stood up. "Good, you're both here."

Elizabeth breathed deeply. "How is he?"

Carson seemed to think about his next words. "He has a deep stab wound underneath his collar bone and another on the abdomen. He's lost a lot of blood and when he got here he was getting into shock. His back looked as if someone had ripped nails out of it. We managed to clean and dress the wounds but…" Carson went silent, he seemed lost for words.

Elizabeth frowned and touched Carson in the arm. "Carson…. But what?"

Carson walked out of his office and towards Sheppard's bed. "He's getting better."

Ronon turned to walk towards Sheppard's bed, while Elizabeth gave Carson a weak smile. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Carson covered his mouth with his right arm as if deep into thought. He looked as confused as everyone else, and then he shook his head and turned to Elizabeth. "No, you don't understand, when we scanned him, the Ancient systems gave him a very low chance of survival. Colonel Sheppard's health is improving at a faster rate….

Ronon frowned, "What are you saying?"

"He should be dead." Carson said with a tone that worried Ronon. Suddenly Carson moved back into his office and grabbed his tablet computer. Once back outside, he gave the tablet to Elizabeth so they could both see the screen. There it was what it looked like a full scan of the Colonel's body. Carson touched the screen so it would zoom in on the chest part. The screen showed a detailed scan of Sheppard's chest, right where the small device was implanted. "Whatever that is, it has some small threads that run from Colonel Sheppard's chest, around his heart and into his spine."

"Is that what it's making him better?" Elizabeth asked

"I believe so; he has nothing else to explain the improvement. There's no nanites, no viruses, no drugs... nothing, but this. The first scan we did showed considerable damage to his spine. I don't think he has it anymore." Carson said almost not believing his own words. "That thing only has a very faint energy reading, but nothing big enough to register in our systems and tell us exactly what it is and what is doing to him."

Elizabeth turned to look at the unconscious figure of Sheppard, "Could it affect his mind?"

Carson moved to the side of Sheppard's bed. "To be honest, we don't know. We have to wait until he wakes up in order to determine his state of mind."

Elizabeth nodded and Ronon asked. "What about Teyla?"

Carson moved to look at Teyla's pale figure, her bed was just a few beds away from the Colonel, "She, in the other hand, is getting worse. She's barely conscious anymore, but we haven't found yet why she is like this."

"Let me know once you have something." Elizabeth said softly without taking her eyes off Teyla.

Carson simply nodded, as Elizabeth moved towards Sheppard's bed. As she did, Elizabeth noticed that Sheppard's eyes were slightly open. She was quickly on his side "John, can you hear me?"

The Colonel's eyes moved slowly towards Elizabeth and then away from her.

"John." Elizabeth repeated hoping to get a reaction of him, but still nothing.

Ronon and Carson seemed to hover nearby waiting for any type of response. As Elizabeth stood right by Sheppard's bed, they all interchanged worried glances.

Suddenly Sheppard grabbed Elizabeth's arm and held to it as if for dear life. "I'm not doing this anymore." John said hoarsely.

Elizabeth tried to remain calm. "John it's me, Elizabeth."

That only made Sheppard hold on tighter to Elizabeth's arm. At this point Ronon moved in to help Elizabeth, and then John said. "Tell Agnok I'm not buying his twisted games anymore. I want to see Rodney."

Elizabeth was very aware of the pain on her arm; still she tried to ignore it. "John… you're home. No one in here will hurt you."

Carson came into the scene with a needle in his hands. Seeing that the Colonel was not letting go of Elizabeth, Carson injected the contents of the needle into Sheppard's IV. They slowly watched the Colonel being taken over by the sedative. Silence fell in the infirmary, only machines made their noises oblivious to what just happened. Carson looked at Elizabeth and she in turn looked at Ronon.

Somewhere deep within their minds they knew that, they may have Sheppard back. But their friend was still lost along with Rodney.

Carson quickly started to check Elizabeth's arm, making sure that she was ok. But somewhere in between they started talking about Sheppard's possible future.

Ronon decided that he had enough of it for the day and decided to leave them. He moved silently towards Teyla's bed. As she came into view, Ronon noticed that she was awake and crying. He moved quickly and grabbed her hand.

Ronon frowned not really knowing what to say. "What's wrong?" he felt stupid for asking that, but it was all he could say at the moment. Teyla didn't answer, but stopped crying. She was staring at the ceiling. Ronon placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Teyla, look at me. What's wrong?" But Teyla didn't seem to listen to Ronon, instead she continued saying, "My head hurts Ronon. I'm seeing the monsters everywhere… is just a matter of time now."

Ronon breathed deeply, "Don't talk like that. Dr. Beckett will find a way to cure you."

"What if he doesn't?"

"Teyla!" Ronon said very suddenly.

Teyla removed he hand from Ronon's grasp, just as another wave of pain hit her. She was screaming now and Ronon shouted back. "Teyla!"

Carson came in running to Teyla's side, he looked at Ronon. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Ronon managed to say in between the screams.

And then it was over. Teyla just passed out from the pain, Ronon looked at the Doctor. Carson frowned sadly, "I can't do anything else for her. Unless we find a way to cure her, the only thing I can do is to make her comfortable." Carson moved to tell something to a nurse, who quickly started checking on Teyla.

Ronon was just plain frustrated at the situation. "There has to be something you can do, we can't just watch her as she slowly dies." Ronon growled at the last words out of his mouth.

Carson glanced at Ronon and sighted, "If I knew of something that could help her I would have done it already lad."

Ronon frustration was growing at a quicker pace. He sat down on the chair he had previously occupied and covered his face with his hands. Seeing this, Carson stared at him. "How are you feeling?"

Ronon answered quickly. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not fine." Carson moved in closer to Ronon. "Let me take a look at you."

Ronon stood up and backed away, "no, I said I'm fine."

Carson sighted and then said, "At least get some sleep. You will not be any use to anyone if you're collapsing from exhaustion."

Ronon knew the Doctor was right. He then nodded to Carson and started walking towards the exit. Carson moved towards his office and said, "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Ronon just nodded and walked out of the infirmary.

It might have been that he was feeling extremely tired, but Ronon didn't noticed how he made his way to his room. But as he opened the door, Ronon only managed to take off his boots and stumble into bed. His brain was shutting down and without even realizing it he fell asleep.

-0-0-0-0-0-

John awoke with a start.

He dreamt of Rodney, John could hear him but not see him and he needed help.

John knew that a couple of days had passed since the last time he saw Agnok. Still, he preferred to ignore everyone around him just in case. Deep within his mind something told him that this might be different and he wasn't with Agnok anymore. But he couldn't say for sure.

Someone screamed.

People stared at him as he sat up straight on his bed. It was as if he had just walked on water and then one of the nurses left the room.

His chest and abdomen hurt, which sparkled the memory of Agnok's last assault. John looked under his hospital gown and saw the bandages. His mind was running now, any injury sustained on Agnok's virtual environment had never left any real wounds. What had happened after Agnok stabbed him was still a little fuzzy.

Suddenly Carson appeared by his bed, he was giving John a worried look. "How are you feeling?"

John kept quiet; he didn't know if he should play the virtual environment once more. He was tired and was desperately wishing things would just go back to normal.

Carson moved around checking the machines around him and typed something on the tablet in his hands. John gave him a suspicious look. Still, Carson looked as he took no offense in John's actions. The silence continued, once Carson finished he placed a hand on John's good shoulder.

John jumped, he wasn't expecting it.

Carson took off his hand quickly. "I didn't mean to startle you, but you should lie down, it will be better for your back."

He lied down, not because he was ordered but because he agreed with Carson. His back had started to hurt. John looked at the Doctor. "What's wrong with my back?"

Carson seemed surprised, still he caught himself quickly and replied. "I was hoping you could tell me what happened."

John thought about it and couldn't remember at all, sensing this Carson continued, "Your spine, it was badly lacerated."

"Lacerated?" As he said the words, he remembered the numbness of the last shreds of memory while being with Agnok.

"Do you remember what happened?" Carson asked

John frowned, he felt as if his thoughts were running at a hundred miles per hour. And then something popped into his head. "Where's Rodney?"

Carson lowered his head for a second and then he answered. "I guess he's still wherever you were before returning to Gregos planet."

Something snapped in his head, Agnok had never mentioned Gregos or anyone from the Runner's planet. Carson seemed to sense his unease. The doctor asked, "Do you know where you are Colonel?"

Where he was, John knew exactly where he was. He just wasn't sure if it was real or not. "The infirmary, Atlantis."

Carson seemed happy that he had given the right answer. The doctor continued, "What about what happened to you? Do you remember being captured?"

Being captured… John had replayed that over and over the first few days of being captured. And at this moment, he refused to think about it.

Sensing he was feeling uncomfortable, Carson gave John a small smile, "Don't worry Colonel, you can tell me when you're ready."

And with those words, Carson turned and walked towards his office. John still felt like all eyes were upon him, it was uncomfortable.

He didn't know what to do, how to act or what to say.

John didn't even know what to think.

-0-0-0-0-0-

He heard the buzz on the door, but for a moment he ignored it. Then there was someone knocking on his door. Ronon stood from his bed and opened the door. Ilu stood outside. "Have you heard anything?"

Ronon rubbed his eyes, processing her question. "Not really."

"You told me they would have answers." She said in an annoyed tone.

He was still half asleep trying to process her questions; Ronon pushed his hair back, "What do you want?"

Ilu composed herself, "I want to speak to your superior, and while I'm here I want to make my time worthwhile."

Ronon walked back into his room, put his boots back on and walked out the door. They walked in silence as they made their way towards Elizabeth's office. Ronon walked into the office and gave Elizabeth a warning glance. Elizabeth's gaze went from Ronon to Ilu, and then she closed her laptop. "Ronon… what can I do for you?"

"Ilu wanted to speak with you." Ronon said as he pointed Ilu. Who in turn asked, "What have you found with the symbols I gave you?"

Elizabeth stood up and faced Ilu, "We're still working on it, is going to take some time."

"This can't take some time!" Ilu snapped, "I just lost my brother and my sister is still out there. I really though you could help."

"We're doing everything we can, but there is not much to work with." Elizabeth answered back quickly.

Seeing the tension in the room, Ronon took advantage to change the topic a little. "Have you heard anything about Sheppard?"

Elizabeth sat back on her chair, "He woke up a couple of hours ago, but apparently he's been in and out of consciousness since."

"I'm sorry." Ilu said suddenly. "I just can't bear it to loose her too, now when there's a slight chance of getting her back."

"One of our own is still out there with her…" Elizabeth seemed to think her next words, "I really don't want to add another name to the list of people killed in action. Believe me; we're doing everything we can."

Suddenly Elizabeth seemed to be paying attention to something else and Ronon realized that he wasn't wearing his radio. "This is Weir"

He looked at Elizabeth with a questioning glance. But before he could say anything she said, "Sheppard is awake and Carson says he's talking."

Without having to say anything, Ronon and Ilu left the office and headed down to the infirmary.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

He kept falling asleep; it was getting hard for him to stay awake. But every time he slept he would dream about Rodney again and again. He waited with his eyes closed for darkness to take him over once more, but this time it didn't come. In his dreams he kept on hearing Rodney calling him and it didn't matter how much John would look through the long hallways of Agnok's base he couldn't help his friend.

As he opened his eyes, John realized that he couldn't help his friend... at least not for the moment. Earlier he overheard some of the nurses talking about how unnaturally fast he was healing. Still John was in pain, the wounds on his back weren't bothering too much, but his whole body ached.

Carson appeared on his side, "How are you feeling Colonel?"

John wasn't really feeling up for questioning, "The same."

He was starting to believe the environment or at least feel more comfortable in it.

"Anything I should worry about?"

John could almost feel the concern in Carson's voice, but he still felt oddly distant. "No."

He noticed Carson was speaking to his radio. At this point John simply wanted to disappear, he was still feeling as if Agnok would appear at any moment. Carson asked him a couple more questions, they were mindless questions. John answered some and kept quiet for others. Every time Carson wanted to know details about what happened to him and Rodney, John felt that he should keep those details to himself.

At least for the time being.

Just as Carson was finishing with his questions the infirmary doors opened revealing Ronon and Ilu. John felt uncomfortable as they moved swiftly towards his bed. Too many times Agnok had turned fake versions of his friends into interrogators and torturers. He just felt another virtual scene unfolding in front of him. Ronon's voice startled him out of his mental frenzy.

"How is he?" Ronon asked Carson

Carson eyed him and replied to Ronon, "He looks good for now."

John didn't want to look at them, he didn't know why but he could feel a bit of panic building up on his chest. Ronon and Ilu looked at each other and Ilu moved right next to John's bed.

"I really need to ask you something." Ilu said with a twinge of desperation in her voice.

John didn't say anything but he looked at her. He knew interrogations always ended up badly in Agnok's world. He wasn't feeling too strong, whatever was going to happen he wouldn't be able to fight it for long.

Then she asked something he wasn't quite expecting.

"Was my sister with you?" Ilu asked quickly.

John frowned and then realized he was holding his breath. He breathed out and then replied, "Yes."

"Is she alright?" Ilu sounded worried

John's memories were flashing before him. Things that happened while he was with Agnok, he thought of the little girl and looked at Ilu, "As far as I know…. She's alive."

Ilu let out a sight and her eyes became misty. Still she recovered quickly and asked back, "Would you be able to tell us exactly where she is?"

John thought about it, he had no idea of how to get in or out of Agnok's place. And even if all of it was real and he was really back home, John had no idea of what the gate address was. "No… the place was dark. That's all I remember."

Silence fell in the room for a moment, and then someone screamed loudly. John sat up quickly, making every bruise and wound pain him in protest. Ronon and Ilu were eyeing him, John couldn't read their reactions. "You guys didn't hear that?" He asked them.

Ronon frowned, "Hear what?"

The screaming started again, this time louder. It was a girl's scream, a scream of fear. For a moment John felt the device on his chest was getting warmer. He placed a hand on it and his breath became ragged.

Carson placed a hand on his shoulder, "Colonel, what's wrong?"

He waited for a moment, breathing hard. Then he looked at Ronon, "I don't feel so good." He said it quickly as he noticed that the front of his gown was stained with blood.

Carson was scanning his chest with the little Ancient scan. And then the screaming returned. John started looking around wildly for the source of the screaming. All he saw was Ilu eyeing him in concern. Then it clicked, he recognized who was screaming. John grabbed Ilu's arm and said quickly, "Your sister is in trouble."

"What?" Ilu replied startled by his statement.

"Colonel! Can you hear me?" Carson was calling to him, but the room started spinning.

John managed to nod.

"What's wrong?" Carson asked quickly.

John was now grasping the device on his chest; it was so hot it felt like it was burning his skin. "Not sure."

Just as he said the words, John found himself alone. He cursed. A horrible sense of despair washed over him. He had started to believe that Atlantis was real, that he was really back and it was just Agnok still playing with him.

Then Ilona was standing right next to his bed. She showed no expression as she moved her hand towards John's hand. He moved away sensing something was not right. She glared at him, "What are you doing?"

John said nothing; she didn't wait for an answer and continued. "No one is happy and we're suffering because of you."

"Where is Rodney?" John quickly

"He is lost."

John frowned, "What do you mean?

"It means that you have to do your task." Just as she said that Ilona grabbed John's hand and suddenly his chest was on fire.

"Bring them what they want and we will all be free."

John didn't know what she was talking about, and then he said between gasps, "I don't…."

Ilona gave him a hard expression. "You know. But hurry, Dr. McKay doesn't have much time."

As it started, Ilona disappeared and the next thing John saw was Carson hovering on above him. John couldn't understand a word; the device was still hot on his skin. He finally heard Carson's voice clearly. "Colonel, stay with me!"

But he couldn't, he was incredibly tired and allowed darkness to take him over.

-0-0-0-0-

As he opened his eyes John realized that he couldn't trust his feeling about finally being home. Because even if he was, he was going to be paranoid for a very long time fearing he was still Agnok's prisoner.

John found himself alone. The Infirmary lights had been dimmed a little and there was a nurse gazing unfocusedly to a computer not too far away. The device on his chest was a little warm but it wasn't bothering him too much.

He was feeling weird; John was having a really big urge to move, to walk. That somehow he needed to find a way to save Rodney.

The nurse noticed him moving and she approached him. She asked him a couple of questions and wanted to make sure he was feeling well. John answered the questions and waited as she gave him a quick look.

The nurse smiled at him and walked away writing something on a tablet.

The wounds on his chest and abdomen were bothering him a little, but that didn't stop him from getting out of bed. He was thankful Carson had removed the machines earlier or his escape attempt would have been a failure. Still his mind told him they were lacking security, someone should have been posted outside of the infirmary. He couldn't help it, but at the moment he didn't understand why they would not guard him.

Still, he needed fresh air, he needed to clear his mind and decide what needed to be done to bring Rodney home. His mind wandered, his body kept going and before he knew it, John was standing outside of Rodney's room. He stared at the door for a long time and before his brain processed anything he was inside the room.

John was feeling slightly detached from what he was doing, it was as if his body had gone on full automatic.

The room was picked up, but a thin layer of dust covered the place. The door closed behind him giving him some time to just look around. He really didn't know why he was there, but something told him he had to take a look around. The device on his chest grew warmer and his sight became a little hazy.

He knew he was moving, but somewhere along the way John didn't know what he was doing anymore. A scream snapped him out of the haze.

He was sitting on the bed with Rodney's computer on his lap. John noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to look at the door. Rodney was standing there giving him a shocked expression that he was definitely giving back.

He frowned and tried to compose himself. "Rodney?"

Rodney was looking around the room, for a moment he seemed to ignore John. He couldn't really read Rodney's expression and for some reason John thought he was really loosing his mind now.

"What's going on? Rodney asked as he walked slowly towards where John was.

"I don't know."

"What happened to you?" Rodney asked; his face serious.

"What do you mean?"

"The big alien told me you had gone home, I thought you were dead. Unless this is another twisted little vision, but I doubt it, considering…"

"Considering what?" John was feeling this encounter was much more than a random hallucination.

Rodney told him about his last encounter with Agnok and that after that he had seem to vanish for them. And that he had walked to him room and found him there. There was a momentary silence and John looked down, thinking about their problem.

"What are you doing?" Rodney asked in almost disbelief.

John looked at Rodney and then down at his own lap. It was then that he realized that he had all the nanovirus files on the computer. He looked from the computer to Rodney and back to the computer, "I don't know."

"Oh no…"

"What?" For some reason, John was feeling as if he was about to loose it soon. Then Rodney stated talking.

"That's what the big alien wanted; he kept asking me for it." Rodney said with a tone of desperation in his voice. "Why are you giving it to them?"

John stood from the bed and faced Rodney, "I'm not giving anything I didn't even know what I was doing."

"Then now you do. Don't do anything stupid, Colonel."

Silence fell between them and then very suddenly Rodney's image flickered. "What was that?" John asked

Rodney started looking around as if he could hear something around him. "I think they found me."

And then he was gone.

John looked around the room and when he looked back at the door, Ilona was standing right in front of him. Her expression was full with anger as she placed her hands on his chest.

"Is time to go back!"

John gasped. Images filled his brain and voices filled his ears. Someone was shouting to him, and then it all stopped.

His body was moving, but John Sheppard was not in control anymore.


End file.
